Talal Derki’s Sundance Jury Prize-winning doc, shot over two years, provides an unflinching insider’s view of the Syrian conflict which has killed thousands and forced millions from their homes since 2011. Focusing on a small band of rebels led by charismatic national football player Abdul Basset Al-Sarout, extraordinary frontline footage of an increasingly unrecognisable Homs charts how peaceful protests progressed to full-blown civil war.
Recent news that the besieged ‘Capital of the Revolution’ has been retaken by the government forces renders the wounded Basset’s impassioned plea that “blood not be wasted in vain” all the more poignant.
