davideo-2 STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday MorningIn March of 2012, the Arab Spring uprising occurred in the city of Raqqa, Syria, where Bashir Al Assad's tyrannical regime was overthrown, and the people made a grab for the independence and freedom that had been denied to them for so long. Unfortunately, it ended up creating a vacuum, that resulted in the Islamic State taking over and grinding the city to a halt, as they enforced their barbaric and savage 'caliphate.' Several men, however, calling themselves 'Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently', banded together and resolved to expose ISIS's savagery to the world, as a result enduring terrible sacrifice and placing their lives in danger.While the rest of the world lives in a heightened sense of danger and alert over ISIS's next terror attack, it's still easy for life to carry on and go about their daily business. It's hard to picture a world where they are the total domineering force, a place which they have completely taken control of and imposed their savage, insane will on. And yet, if you were to ask any group of people to name the one place where this has happened, Raqqa would probably instantly spring to mind. Like Rwanda in the early 90s, it's the place everyone knows about, but we're all guilty of ignoring as long as we have our nice life.Matthew Heineman, director of the equally enthralling 2015 drug-war drama Cartel Land, plunges us into this unimaginable world, with City of Ghosts, depicting the plight of a group of brave men living on the frontline of this devastating life, risking everything to highlight the atrocities of ISIS in their homeland. We are given unflinching access, as the terror group enact live executions in the streets, capture their friends and taunt them over the internet, including streaming the live murder of one of their fathers. These are educated men, from Raqqa's middle classes and trained journalists, who have to live life on the edge and constantly think on their feet, thinking one step ahead of their enemies.Heineman has displayed a real talent for making these exposing, frontline dramas, of men and societies living on the edge, that keep you on the edge of your seat far more than any modern Hollywood dross ever could. ****

aaakachh I felt like some of the scene were fake like how can you see your father get shot in the head and then you say i dont knowgood movie ,fake scene was not needed

Turfseer Director Matthew Heineman's new documentary covers a group of Syrian citizen-journalists who, while in exile, and continuing to maintain contacts in their native city of Raqqa ("The City of Ghosts"), disseminated chilling videos of atrocities perpetrated by ISIS, for all the world to see via the internet.The group, which calls itself Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently (or RBSS), was initially formed to expose the crimes being committed by the Syrian Army and members of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. They switched their focus when ISIS took over their city in 2014.The most compelling part of the documentary are the clips that emanate from the occupied city itself, chronicling the depraved actions of ISIS. There are upsetting images of men being executed in the street and corpses mounted in crucifixion tableaux. Heineman follows three key members, Aziz, the official spokesman for the group and brothers Hamoud and Mohamad, who are both seen watching a tragic ISIS video showing the execution of their father who was murdered in retaliation for their activities.Most of the footage that wasn't shot in Syria covers the three men as they work out of safe houses in both Turkey and Germany. They all come off as heroic as their lives are in constant danger-halfway through the documentary we view the funeral of one of their leaders, who was murdered outside of Syria, while working for RBSS.Aside from Aziz receiving an award from the nonprofit group the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York City at the beginning of the film, Heineman covers the three activists in their daily activities (these include showing how they go about disseminating information that they are constantly receiving from their undercover operatives in Raqqa). Perhaps the film's central weakness is that the director chooses to eschew in depth coverage of the complex history of the Syrian Civil War for a more determined focus on the lives of the activists, who are nothing more than ordinary men, thrust into a life of uncertainty not of their own choosing. While decidedly admirable and heroic, the machinations of Heineman's activists lack conflict and their scenes aren't as gripping as the footage shot in ISIS-held territory.City of Ghosts is valuable as it educates the public as to what's been going on in a part of the world that is often shrouded in mystery. There's some powerful stuff here and it's certainly worth your time to investigate.

Mark Durfor City of Ghosts is a documentary independent film about ISIS terrorists in Raqqa, Syria, the citizen journalists exposing them, and the power of media used by both. In 2014, ISIS took over Raqqa by force and recruited more soldiers to their cause by distributing CDs. These CDs were poor in quality, looked amateur, and were not producing the results they wanted. A group of 17 correspondents inside Raqqa filmed the actions of ISIS and transmitted their footage to another group of citizen activists outside of Raqqa who would then publish their footage online for the world to see. ISIS caught on and stepped up their game, smartly, viciously, successfully.For 40 years, Assad ruled Syria. Slowly, Syrians had enough and rebelled. A group of high school students sprayed graffiti demanding Assad leave and free Syria. The government arrested those students, tortured them and killed them to send a message. Their message failed and a full revolt arose, successfully toppling the regime. Unfortunately for the Syrians, there was not a succession plan in place to set up a government to rule once Assad had been overthrown. A militant group of Muslims named ISIS took Raqqa and they were even worse than Assad.ISIS launched a three-pronged attack. First, they attacked by force. Then, they attacked by upping the quality of their videos used to recruit soldiers. They utilized Hollywood style filming techniques and special effects to entice Syrians to join their "paradise". Finally, they found out who was working against them and used intimidation to scare them off. They would publicly execute their family members, they would post pictures of those working against them and their addresses encouraging their soldiers and followers to kill them. They demanded that all satellites be removed and destroyed so they could be in complete control of any media entering or leaving Raqqa. They drove around in vans detecting internet signals and killing violators. But a few brave resisters would not be deterred realizing that either they would successfully share the truth, or they would be killed.This is a documentary that uses actual footage of the atrocities being committed by ISIS in Syria. These are not Hollywood actors, there are no special effects or makeup tricks. What you see is real. And that makes this film brutal and painful but necessary to watch. The preview showed that you would be given front-line access to the daily terror to which Syrians are subjected, and that's what the film delivered. It was hard to give this a typical star rating because it's not meant to entertain, it's not meant to thrill and take you to a make believe place. Even movies that are based on actual events are a little easier to handle because they are a step removed. They are recreations of things that happened and the viewer can take some solace knowing it's still a Hollywood movie. I'm not often squeamish at horror films with gore and blood. I'm more curious at how the special effects team pulled it off. With City of Ghosts, what you see is actually happening and cannot be brushed off as a trick. I honestly was not sure what exactly to expect. I didn't know how much would be shown in the movie and in how much detail. The movie is graphic, but restrained. You do see executions. You do see children being brainwashed and threatened with no choice but to follow ISIS. You do see the aftermath of public beheadings. But you are spared some of the brutality as the camera will film the reactions of the Syrians who had to witness their fellow Syrians, their fellow journalists, their friends and families being killed. But their goal is to spread the graphic truth of what is going on and their lives are at stake. I gave City of Ghosts an anticipatory 4 Star prediction. I am going to stand by my 4 Star Rating, even though it breaks my own rating scale because this will not be a movie I'll be owning. I'm giving this a higher rating because I think it is an important film that we all need to see. Not in spite of how uncomfortable it may make us, but rather because of how uncomfortable it should make us. marksmoviemind.blogspot.com