Under The Wire

Under The Wire tells the story of a daring entry on 13 February 2012, into war-ravaged Syria by two journalists. One of them was a celebrated Sunday Times war correspondent, Marie Colvin. The other was a photographer, Paul Conroy. They aimed to cover the plight of Syrian civilians trapped in Homs, a city under siege and relentless military attack from the Syrian army and report on the untold suffering of women and children who were the kept secret of Assad regime's assault on dissenters. Under the cloak of combating terrorism, the regime was effectively silencing the call for democracy... The film opens with footage Conroy at one of his darkest moments in Baba Amr, a city-district in southwest Homs, in central Syria. Much of the opening sequence gives a feel of an expose. However, that soon gives way to a non-linear narrative that juxtaposes, at first Conroy, and later fellow journalists, recollections of those two and a half weeks they spent together attempting to tell the world what was happening to the women and children in Baba Amr. At the center of the story is their martyr, Marie Colvin, an American war correspondent, regarded as one of, if not the finest, combat journalist of her generation. Colvin came to fame through her reporting in East Timor in 1999. Without Marie's reporting the UN said the people of East Timor would have perished. In 2012, despite the exodus of virtually every Western journalist, Colvin felt compelled to tell the world what was happening in Syrian towns, especially the 28,000 civilians who were in Baba Amr. So much so, Colvin risked her life until finally paying the ultimate price when a precision bombing attack successfully neutralized its target, which was known in Baba Amr as the media center which in reality was a concrete **** room on the 6th floor of an evacuated building. Meanwhile, the United Nations and the world looked on helplessly as the Assad regime continued its daily bombing assault beginning first at 7:00 A.M. and later moved up to 6:30 A.M. According to French journalist, Edith Bouvier, who suffered a serious and potentially life-threatening leg injury when the targeted bomb hit the "media center" - as many as fifteen shells would hit in the first thirty seconds of the precision bombing. Eventually, the wounded, surviving journalists would make a last-minute escape. Having been told a Red Cross ambulance would be coming to take her and her co-journalists to safety during the first-ever cease-fire, the journalists were warned by a man from the Red Crescent not to get in the vans waiting outside. Following his heeding the group refused to leave. Soon after, a group of rebels shepherded the correspondents to safety only asking that the journalist tell the world what was happening in Baba Amr. Under the Wire is a story of international fear and apathetic response from the global community. Despite numerous videos surfacing from Colvin and what many describe as a miracle worker, Dr, Mohammad Mohammad, pleading for the international community to halt the slaughter of innocent civilians whose only crime was a want for a more democratic way of life, nothing happened. Conroy's life was saved. His mission has been to tell the world what happened in Syria. Utilizing archival news reports from the BBC and CNN (with Anderson Cooper), personal footage and photos from his times with Colvin, Conroy has set out to tell the world what happened. Under the Wire is the story of Marie Colvin's passionate commitment to tell the world the story of the women and children in Baba Amr and their shared experience of the "widow's basement," an underground shelter for women and children crammed with thin mattresses, little food and without basic medical assistance. This is not an easy film to watch. Part expose' part action/adventure while booming sound, partial profile shots, fuzzy footage, along with some shaky, point-of-view, hand-held shots create tension and unease. Nevertheless, this is a story that needed to be told and now it needs an audience. The world needs to know the truth of what happened. Highly recommended.

A terrific story powerfully told The Fourth Estate has taken a pounding in recent years, and one wonders what Edward R. Murrow would have made of it all, but one thing of which we can be certain is that he would have respected the hell out of Sunday Times war correspondent Marie Colvin. Based on the book of the same name by Colvin's photographer, Paul Conroy, who is also the primary interviewee, the documentary covers the assignment on which Colvin was killed - the February 2012 military offensive during the Siege of Homs in Syria, and whilst thematically, the film is about both Colvin's indefatigable spirit and Conroy's deep respect for her, it's structured more like a thriller, complete with plot twists, heroism, sacrifice, and success against-the-odds. Colvin was primarily concerned with presenting the stories of those usually forgotten in conflicts, arguing that "being a war correspondent is about what people are going through". Having covered the Arab Spring in Libya, she next headed to Syria. On February 3, 2012, in the city of Homs, the Syrian Army launched an offensive focused on the rebel stronghold of Baba Amr. With the Bashar al-Assad government attempting to control the influx of journalists into the country, Colvin and Conroy illegally crossed the Syrian/Lebanon border. Once in Baba Amr, they learned that Assad's claim that no civilians were in harm's way was a lie - over 28,000 civilians were trapped. Based out of a "media centre", Colvin, Conroy, TIME's William Daniels, and Le Figaro's Edith Bouvier, and her photographer Rémi Ochlik, immediately began to file copy, as the city was shelled around them. On the evening of February 21, Colvin was interviewed live by CNN's Anderson Cooper, whom she told the shelling was the worst she had ever experienced. The following morning, the media centre in which the reporters were based was shelled, with both Colvin and Ochlik killed, and Conroy and Bouvier seriously injured. This takes us to just after the half-way point of the film. With Colvin dead, the narrative shifts focus to Conroy, and the film turns into an escape thriller, as the wounded photographer seems to have little hope of making it out of the country alive (nor does the even more severely wounded Bouvier). Obviously both did, as they both give interviews in the film, but even though we know this, the fact that it doesn't dilute the heart-in-the-mouth experience of the second half of the narrative is a testament to Martin's craft and storytelling ability. The film opens with a purposely disorientating shot that appears to be inside a tunnel. We later learn it is the 3km storm drain which Colvin and Conroy used to get into Syria. However, what's so well-thought-out about this opening is that the storm-drain proves vitally important towards the end too. This is basic narrative foreshadowing, but it's unusual to see it in a documentary. Also vital to this thriller structuring is the time the documentary takes to explain the Syrian Arab Red Crescent incident. No spoilers, but this sequence is one of the best parts of the film, providing perhaps the biggest twist in the story, and highlighting how one can find heroes in the most unexpected of places. Obviously, as the author of the book on which the film is based, Conroy anchors proceedings. Indeed, there are only a few additional interviewees (Bouvier, Daniels, their Syrian translator Wa'el, Colvin's colleague and friend Lindsey Hilsum, and Times editor Paul Ryan). Passionate, funny, and full of nervous ticks, Conroy's talking-head material contrasts well with the terrifying footage he himself shot in Syria, and raises significant questions regarding why Assad has been allowed to remain in power, whilst also forcing the audience to consider our own attitude to the Syrian refugee crisis (try watching an elderly man and woman hobble away from the ruins of the home they have lived in all their lives, their few remaining possessions strapped to their backs, and remain detached as to the plight of these people). Conroy is also deeply emotional regarding his experiences, and one of the most moving parts of the documentary is when he views footage of a mass protest in Homs on the evening of February 22, with the people carrying banners and flags emblazoned with pictures of Colvin and Ochlik, alongside the words "We will not forget you". Conroy was unaware this had happened at the time, and had never seen footage of it before filming his interview. It's simply impossible not to be deeply moved by his reaction to the footage. Equal parts emotive, stimulating, anger-inducing, and thrilling, this is a story of bravery and professional dedication in the face of unimaginable horrors, of determined humanitarianism, and impossible-to-deter dedication to giving a voice to those who so often remain voiceless.