Depicting Danger, Emphasizing Humanity: The White Helmets Film Analysis Isabella Escalona 12th Grade

The level of intimacy with which the documentary film The White Helmets illustrates the lives of its heroic subjects and their extraordinary work aims to eliminate the barrier that separates distant audiences worldwide. Directed by Orlando Von Einsiedel, the film captures the day-to-day lives of the Syrian Civil Defense team, colloquially known as the White Helmets, as they voluntarily risk their lives to provide emergency medical assistance to bombing victims caught in the crossfires of the Syrian civil war. Achieving what most news reporters and journalists fail to do, the documentary offers an intimate and unique glimpse into the lives of the brave men behind the Syrian revolution against the Assad regime as they demonstrate the true meaning of selflessness and compassion. Excelling in its humanization of those greatly impacted by the brutality of the war, The White Helmets tells the story of seemingly ordinary men who courageously put their the lives of complete strangers before their own.

Presented without narration, the footage presented throughout The White Helmets provides a surreal sense of danger, conveying the importance of what the White Helmets do and the perilous circumstances under which they must do it. From one...