The filmmakers are the stars of this documentary. Lebanese journalist Janay Boulos was living in London and working for BBC when she was put in contact with Syrian photographer, Abd Alkader Habak on the ground in Aleppo, Syria.
Since the Al-Assad regime had banned international journalists, Habak risked his life to document what was happening in his country, to his people. The two worked together through a series of text and voice messages to get photos and video footage on the news and out to the rest of the world. What Habak experiences and records is powerful and heart-stopping.
Eventually, their professional relationship becomes more personal and their parallel lives finally intersect. Their story is much more than a wartime romance. It is a lesson in life, liberty, freedoms and what it is like to live with the threat of losing everything and being destroyed by your own government. The homelands of both Habak (Syria) and Boulos (Lebanon) underwent revolution in very different ways.
Most documentaries at Sundance are powerful stories worth watching. Some are more polished or clever but this is an example of a powerful, well-told story so I included two bonus icons.
On the KPCW sun rating system, "Birds of War" receives four out of five suns.
