White Helmets

White Helmets is a documentary released in 2016 which follows the work done by a group of people that name themselves the 'White Helmets'. They're a volunteering group of men who aim to save lives from the air raids in Syria from Russia as Russia attempt to fight ISIS.

Directed by Orlando von Einsiedel, the filming gives a POV feeling as it follows the group of men enter buildings that have just been bombed as they dig through the rubble in an attempt to save lives or retrieve bodies in order for them to have a proper funeral. Being that is an issue in todays world and the violence is ongoing not just from the Russians but also the attacks from ISIS, it is a real eye opener into why there is such a vast number of refugees seeking a new home and causes me as an audience to feel empathy towards them.

The use of talking heads was vital in order for the documentary to produce more than just shocking scenes and hope to win the audience over from what I would call the action shots. Talking heads can usually come across as boring when over used but for this film it was used at vital moments in order for the emotion from the White Helmet members could be felt from us as an audience. It assists us in giving a better insight of the struggles they face, not just because of the violence but the fact some are raising a family and seeing as they're volunteers how are they meant to raise that family with no income?

Was truly eye opening hearing about something that is on our news through out the day and week but gives a side of the story we would've probably never heard if it weren't for Netflix producing this as many mainstream news broadcasting focuses on the tragedy and deaths.