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Netflix
“White
Helmets” Doc
Is Moving,
Misses
Turkey's Role,
Qs of Yemen,
Lanka, Gaza
By Matthew
Russell Lee,
Review
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 30 --
The “White
Helmets”
documentary
slated to air
on Netflix on
September 16
starts with
dramatic
footage of
airstrikes and
searching
through
buildings,
saving a
week-old baby
from a
collapsed wall
- then settles
into a
training camp
in Turkey.
The
director and
producer,
Orlando von
Einsiedel and
Joanna
Natasegara,
collaborated
in 2014's
Virunga, about
gorillas in
the Congo.
This time for
Netflix they
wade into the
Syrian
conflict, with
amazing
footage but,
at least for
some viewers,
a lack of
analysis.
Turkey, for
example, is
portrayed as a
helpful haven
across the
border. Now
Turkey has entered
Syria to
fight not ISIS
but the Kurds.
Could these
nuances not be
included in a
40-minute
documentary?
In terms of
the politics
of Netflix,
one wonders if
a
similar-length
documentary
for example
about Gaza, or
more to this
point Sri
Lanka, would
be aired.
There were
airstrikes on
civilians in Sri
Lanka;
Channel 4
aired Callum
Macrae's “No
Fire Zone.”
But would a
paean to a
Tamil Tiger
medical teams
be screened on
Netflix?
In
“White
Helmets,” the
protagonists
give heartfelt
testimony
looking
straight into
the camera.
One White
Helmet has a
two-week old
son while a
one week old
baby is
rescued. In
the long
Turkey
segment,
another cranes
into his cell
phone to see
the most
recent car
bomb in
Aleppo.
In a tip of
the hat to
balance, the
phrase “ISIS
on the ground,
the Russians
in the air” is
used. The
United
Nations,
tellingly, is
not or barely
mentioned.
UNrelevant.
Turkey is
portrayed as a
paradise, and
in fairness
the filming in
early 2016 was
before the
attempted
coup. Still,
Turkey had and
has an
interest in
Syria, now
largely
targeting the
Kurds, and
this is not
mentioned.
Instead there
are long
segments of
fireman
training - one
wonders, will
Dennis Leary
endorse the
film?
In one
sequence in
Turkey,
television
news mentions
MSF, Doctors
Without
Borders. As
their
facilities in
Yemen have
been destroyed
by the
Saudi-led
Coalition
supported by
the US, is
Netflix
considering
any coverage
of Yemen?
Still, “White
Helmets” is
moving and
well-produced.
It should be
seen - but so
should much
else.
* * *
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reports
are
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News and on Lexis-Nexis.
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