‘City of Ghosts’ documents heroism
At the movies, so- called superheroes swing into action in a new release almost every weekend throughout the summer season. But if you want to see the genuine article, you’ll have to seek out “City of Ghosts,” Matthew Heineman’s documentary about the Syrian citizenjournalist group of Raqqa.
This city in eastern Syria on the banks of the Euphrates has, for the past three years, been the de facto capital of the Islamic State. Raqqa first attracted militants in the uprising against Syrian president Bashar alAssad, but in the wake of the revolution the Islamic State set up camp there. Black flags became common, as did beheadings, crucifixions and torture.
Raqqa has become one of the most difficult places in the world to live what most of us consider a normal daily life, let alone do journalism. And yet it was here that one of the more inspiring examples of citizen reporting took root.
The people involved, known as Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently are a small group of mostly anon- ymous Raqqa residents who became activists. Heineman, director of the Oscar-nominated “Cartel Land,” lets the group’s leaders tell their own story, providing an intimate, heartbreaking and stirring look into the tragedy of Syria today.
They are mostly young, previously apolitical men who found the courage to resist when the Islamic State, or ISIS, began terrorizing their home city. Armed with nothing more than a hashtag and a logo, the group has become a vital source for news inside Raqqa and beyond.
“We punctured a hole in the darkness,” says narrator Abdul-Aziz al-Hamza, the 25-year-old co-founder.
For the media-savvy Islamic State, which made slickly produced videos of its atrocities, the group is more than a nuisance, and the risk is extreme. A reporter named Moutaz is captured, tortured and shot in public. Other volunteers are assassinated. Their teacher, Naji Jerf, is hunted down on the streets in Turkey. Even their families are in danger. The cameraman Hamoud’s father is taken and shot on video.
Much of Heineman’s footage comes from his visits to the group’s European safe houses. The heroism on display in “City of Ghosts” is unforgettable.