Cries from Syria

I just watched this doc and it is very heavy. I try to watch everything I see in 2017 with a grain of salt. The graphic footage of bodies of children tortured and murdered was relentless, but I wondered why they weren't spending any time explaining the villains point of view. Why are Assad and Russia blowing them up? Simple question. The doc alludes to the idea that Russia claimed to be helping eradicate "ISIS" at Aleppo - meanwhile no ISIS were there. How does Assad explain his actions, especially early on when torturing & kidnapping 11 year old's for disrespectful graffiti? Who were his army at that point? And how? Maybe that's an entirely different doc, but I thought the whole thing seemed one sided. And perhaps rightly so. They sure did look like the heroes throughout.

With the mainstream media dampening almost every aspect of what is going on in Syria with, by every stretch, utter nonsense, this doc is a wide-eye-opener.

Like many, I like to think I'm informed in various current news topics and like to have a voice when it comes to expressing myself - but how wrong and misled I was with the goings on in Syria.

Told starkly and with graphic and upsetting scenes, Cries from Syria tells the story that the world doesn't want you to hear.

Truly superb and whatever your political opinions are, they will be readily pushed aside when you uncover the extent of what the situation is over there.

10/10.

This documentary makes you wonder about your life and all the "problems" you face everyday. These people no longer have a home, many have lost loved ones, starvation and fighting (including with WMD) sort of make your problems seem trivial.

I came upon this show by accident while channel surfing and I couldn't look away. I wonder if HBO had ever shown this during prime time hours like 8 PM or only on late night (12:40AM - 2:40AM) when I caught it. After our last presidential election where our new president (sadly it's Trump) talked about refusing assistance to these people or even letting them in, it makes you wonder how Christian all these American people really are. When you stand before God for judgment, he will ask you what you did to help people like these and you better have a good answer.

This show follows the war in Syria over several years, from the civil war against the Asad regime to the invasion by ISIS to the Russian involvement, which only made things worse. It is VERY GRAPHIC, as it should be. It includes real footages of death, destruction, dismemberment, and even footages of civilians poisoned by WMD from Asad's regime, as the world did little to help.

To me, this show is one of the few that I feel everyone should watch. As I watched this, I remembered an incident I read about in WW2. When the Allies invaded Germany and freed the Jews, they saw the concentration camps and began to realize the full extent of the massacre. They asked the German people of a nearby town why they did not do anything against their government, the people responded they didn't know what was happening to the jews. The Allies then to these people to the concentration camps and showed them what they did not know was going on.

If we Americans are true Christians, then we need to show it in our actions.

An even stronger film than Afneevsky's excellent "Winter on Fire", he uses a similar strategy here. He films his own interviews and some footage of what is going on in the country. But the core of the documentary is first hand video footage from citizens' cell phones and other cameras - images from those living and dying on the front lines - bringing the tale a powerful immediacy.

The story is truly tragic, as a hopefully attempt for an Arab spring type peaceful uprising against the long standing violent and dictatorial leadership of Assad (the film includes footage of his torturers at work) devolved quickly into brutal civil war as the government uses any means necessary to subdue it's citizens -- including devastating chemical weapon's attacks (again, among the often very brutal footage in the film).

At the same time ISIS came to the country promising to ally with the people, but quickly revealed their own murderous ways as they attempt to take over large areas of the country and impose themselves as draconian strongmen despots, killing anyone who won't do their bidding or live by their rules. So now for the people of Syria, their cities and society are being decimated by two groups of monsters simultaneously. Meanwhile, the world does shockingly little to help the rebels. As Russian planes go on bombing raids to help bolster their puppet government, the US and US look on with horror, but don't seem to be trying to even get the rebels supplies, much less to fight for or with the, or even to send a meaningful peace keeping force.

What makes the film really stand out is how it works as an emotionally devastating account of human suffering, while still doing a better job than any documentary or news report I've seen to simply make clear exactly what is going on, and whom is fighting with whom in the Syrian nightmare.

I had insomnia last night, so I turned on HBO and watched this documentary. At some point in watching it I thought I had fallen asleep and was in a nightmare, but no, I was wide awake. I was an apathetic American until last night, but I am now outraged. These people are going through hell, and most of them are women and children. Bashar Assad is obviously guilty of war crimes and needs to be held accountable. This documentary is a must watch for everyone. The world will have to become sufficiently outraged to bring the criminal Assad to be held to account for what he has done and is doing.