Retour à Homs

Amazing footage of civilians who try to defend the town of Homs in Syria over years of attacks by Bashar Assad. The central figure is almost killed many times and it is intense to watch him and his friends figure out how to survive the ongoing battles.

The terrible truth is that they were begging for help from the outside world and very little came through. This film provoked mixed feelings of inspiration by the fighters' perseverance and yet despair that all the sacrifices were in vain.

At heart, this is a biography of a single man who is suddenly called to give everything he has to protect his neighborhood from the advancing Syrian Army. We watch 19-year old Basset--previously named the 2nd best goalkeeper in all of Asia--transform from a popular community leader singing songs of peaceful, pious resistance into an impressively fearless leader of a small but spirited militia group.

Though this film does not, and likely is not intended to, shed light on the entire Syrian conflict, it surely demonstrates to human toll of a war otherwise abstracted in headlines. Though these images did not shock the world out of complacency as Basset and his friends expect, they do shed light on exactly what the Syrian people have been facing for more than four years. Regardless of politics, the scale of human suffering is immense and either we have poorly understand that so far, or we are willfully callous.

The narrative of Homs is told through the eyes of a man who passionately loves his community, yet is made to watch its brutal destruction, including the death or displacement of everyone he loves and trusts. We seem him in moments of victory as well as utter torment and depression. Incredibly, through it all he continues to rally and fight in the face of total oblivion. By the final credits, every square inch of Homs and Basset himself is changed forever.

I found this film to be the singular most moving and realistic account of war I have ever witnessed. It is not easy to watch, but then, how could it be?

It's one of those rare moments in history, when someone began filming a budding conflict just at the right moment. We follow a young man named Basset from the time of secular protests against Bashar al-Assad's regime into the rebellion and the following Syrian civil war. Gradually the rebellion turns into a fight for mere survival. Bassat sees his friends fall one by one. Their hopes slowly erode away and there is no help from the outside other than maybe from Islamist groups.

This is not underlined in the film, but there's a certain feeling of secular rebellion slowly being hijacked. Not because anyone wanted it, but because that was the only option, only straw they could grab onto while drowning.

I hope that Basset is still alive and well. He remains an inspiring person amidst all this tragedy.

Everyone should see this.

The Return to Homs was a very powerful story of a young man, completely fearless and with the backing of a community, ready to put his life on the line for the town and country he loves. I've never seen footage quite like this and was often struck by the surreal nature of their composure as they walked right into the line of fire. Their smiles, their singing, and their determination give you a sense throughout the film of their utter resignation to the idea that they are men against the world and everything must be put on the line if they are to have a chance. You even get a sense at times that they truly feel their mission is doomed and they're merely going through the motions to reach the coveted "martyr" status. This just adds to the heartbreak of it all.

For me, the young men's surreal composure that I sense speaks to my lack of understanding of the enormity of their struggle and leads me to believe this movement must certainly be years in the making for these people to react in such a stoic way. The characters in this story and their passion make me want to learn more about Syria and the current struggles, despite the film not offering much in the way of peripheral history. The characters are revealed thoroughly enough to spark much in the way of interest.