City of Ghosts is a film about a group of people documenting what is going on in their Syrian city of Raqqa. This group calls themselves Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered. They have been forced to leave Raqqa, Syria, and then Turkey and now stay in Germany. They are under a constant threat of death.

They have a team of people still living in Raqqa trying to film what ISIS and the SDF are doing in their city. Murder, be headings, and torture are still going on in Raqqa. The battle for Raqqa continues, with fighting and bombing between the Syrian Democratic Forces and ISIS.

There is nothing new in the film. It brings to light and brings home the personal impact on a group of men who are trying to fight back with the power of the pen and social media. Footage of ISIS advertising their ideology in market squares is interesting in showing how the group operate on the ground. The personal pain of a homeland and city is understated, with the feelings running low with agonising high points.

The uniqueness is in the 21st Century media age where we can see footage taken at great risk from inside the City of Raqqa from the comfort of our European homes. This could not be happening in any other age, so discreetly and secretly.

But it is a well worn tale of an oppressed people, a rebellion, a vacuum, and more oppression. This tale has repeated itself many many times of the centuries. The other big common denominator is that from the outside nothing can be done to improve the situation. Are we doomed to repeat?

It seems that we are. Our existence is about power and how we deal with and express it. We all want our own power which is healthy for our existence. But sometimes it is taken too far. Countries express an insecurity about who we are and where we belong. We seem unable to express this individually so it comes out in patriotism, and nationalism. Individually we find no help or support in trying to express our feelings of insecurity healthily. So it builds up into a collective feeling which explodes into fighting and war.
City of Ghosts

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This article is designed to provoke argument and critique