Steineded How sad is this?

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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.

jdesando Having won a national award for journalism, I was feeling really pumped about me until I saw the journalists in City of Ghosts. Here are heroes who leave me breathless in awe of their courage fighting Isis in its home, Raqqa. A formerly docile town, it changed with the emergence of ISIS tanks in 2014 after the remarkable Arab Spring of 2012. The citizen journalists, RBSS (Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently), begin fighting in earnest when they realize ISIS has taken control because of the vacuum of power after that Spring. This doc is almost exclusively a chronicle of their struggle to remain viable after ISIS zeroed in on them and began torturing and beheading relatives and friends.So the heroism is much more personal than fighting ISIS; it is about good people combating an implacable foe at the expense of their families and themselves. When the doc shows a fighter watching a video of his father being assassinated and when at the end of the film a fighter shakes in guilt and fear over having survived and his friends didn't because he escaped from Raqqa, the audience is witnessing a reality show like no other our poor commercial fluff gives us in that name.The depressing element of this is how successful ISIS has been because of the Hollywood production type elements in these gruesome and seductive promos. Assassinations are edited with the expertise of your garden-variety super-hero blockbuster.City of Ghosts features fighters who are ghosts of their former happy lives, but they are heroes the likes of which we have long forgotten.