Following up his Oscar-nominated exploration of Mexican drug gangs in Cartel Land director Mathew Heineman turns his attention east and to ISIS central, Raqqa, the Syrian city seized by the jihadists in 2014. Very little footage of daily life has escaped the city but Aziz, Mohammad and Hamoud, three amateur journalists and members of R.B.S.S. (Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently), risk their lives from European safe houses to upload scenes captured by friends and family still trapped in the stricken city. They are in a media war, combating ISIS' claims that Raqqa is a peaceful city and its citizens loyal subjects.
And it's a war the west just doesn't understand: ISIS is an idea, R.B.S.S. say, and you can't kill an idea with bombs. The documentary opens with a benefit gathering – all tuxes and champagne and cubed cheese on sticks – with Aziz and co. looking to bring Raqqa's plight to public awareness. They are given trophies for their exploits, the photographer telling the unsmiling Massoud "You're so serious." Later we see Massoud watching his father's execution on tape. This execution, and many more, are shot professionally: ISIS have employed savvy filmmakers to produce propaganda films with their executions looking very much like dramatic reconstructions. A media war indeed.
This raw and unforgiving film won't be forgotten in a hurry thanks to the uncensored scenes of public executions and severed heads stuck on fence posts. One scene has a girl, no more than four, emerge from a wardrobe in full suicide bomber gear and make her way to a teddy before slicing its throat, crying 'allahu akbar'. Another scene has all the earmarks of Nazi Youth rallies with young teens marching with weapons and shouting slogans. Heineman doesn't pull any punches and doesn't offer any easy answers - this is a mentally draining and bleak affair.
They may not be in direct firing line but Aziz, Mohammad and Massoud do live with daily threats with ISIS calling on German 'brothers' to find and assassinate the journalists, and they come up against a far right demonstration calling for all refugees to be sent home; at one point they meet a colleague who seems at the end of his tether, his nerves shot from having to look over his shoulder day and night. Heineman's camera doesn't have to look hard to find the emotional toil these men are going through. Particularly Massoud, whose father's execution haunts him every minute of every day.
