Another day, another soul-crushing Oscar documentary. This one comes courtesy of Netflix and is only about 40 minutes long. The Syria Civil Defense, or White Helmets, are a group of volunteers from all over Syria who rush into danger and save people from collapsed buildings after bombings. These men (they only showed men for whatever reason) are not professional cops, or firefighters, or affiliated with any government. They just want to help as many people as they possibly can. The short follows a group from Aleppo as they attend a month-long rescue training camp in Turkey, with flashbacks to some of their work on the ground.
The documentary itself is very hands-off. It's not asking any particular questions, and not promoting any agenda. It's just shining a spotlight on people trying to do something amazing in the face of overwhelming odds. That being said, I don't know that I give it high odds of taking home an Oscar. It will really depend on the rest of the films in the category.
Are women allowed to do the job? I hadn't even heard of this until your review? Not that they couldn't do it, of course, but the physical demands have to be pretty tough.
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