Liz Carter

This film is real, created from real footage filmed in Aleppo, Syria, over the last years of its destruction by Russian and Assad forces (Syrian brutal dictator) air attack before it was depopulated at the end of 2016. Before going, reviews had left me unaware who the women was or that her husband was Dr. Hamza, one of the heroes of Aleppo, head of the only hospital standing in East Aleppo - because the Russians had had the coordinates of all the others and knew where to bomb! I realised then I had seen quite a lot of ths footage in 'real time' - the image of Dr. Wasseem walking down the corridor moments before the bomb strikes that kills him is particularly memorable as is the attacks on the ambulances trying to get the injured out at the end. It is brilliantly edited and intertwined with the love between Hamza and Waad, manifest in Sama, and the courage and high spirits they and their friends and colleagues display in the face of horror and carnage. As do the ordinary civilians, so many of them children. Another image well remembered is the enjoyment of the irrepressible children jumping into the deep ponds created from bomb craters. The message - we will not let our dignity revolution be intimidated. Go and see this, but if you truly go and see it as real life and not a horror movie, be aware your own life may never be the same after. You may feel the need to go on to discover that what ended here in December 2016 is happening yesterday, today and tomorrow just down the road in Idlib where many of the people in Aleppo were bussed to and even be drawn to try and do something about it. I dare you to see this film.