Netflix releases trailer for upcoming White Helmets documentary

Netflix is set deliver a snapshot into the lives of Syria's civilian heroes of war in an upcoming documentary. Here's the trailer.

Narrated

2 min read

Taufiq Wan

08 Sep, 2016

Syrian White Helmets volunteers walk through a bombed-out neighbourhood in Aleppo [AFP]

Netflix is set deliver a snapshot into the lives of Syria's civilian heroes of war in an upcoming documentary on the volunteers who brave the seemingly endless barrage government bombs to save those injured and buried beneath.

Titled 'The White Helmets' after the Syrian Civil Defense units' signature headgear, the Netflix Original documentary follows three members of the group's 3000 strong army of helpers as they risk everything to aid their people through their country's darkest days.

The trailer opens with scenes of a child at home placing a helmet on a man's head - who is presumably her father - before he kisses her goodbye and sets off into an eerily empty street.

The man later lifts his gaze at the blue sky above - a scene which quickly cuts to the terrifying sight of a helicopter dropping bombs followed by deafening blasts.

The relative calm of the trailer's opening moments then explodes into chaos, as images of the death, dust and bloody disarray of Syria's war flash rapidly before the viewer's eyes.

The story that is to be told is clear - one of ordinary people living through extraordinary circumstances.

Syria's White Helmets have reportedly saved around 60,000 people who have been affected by air raids conducted by Russian and Syrian war planes since 2013.

Most recently, the group's rescue of four-year-old Omran Daqneesh became the subject of a viral social media campaign when images of the blood and dust-covered child sitting meekly in an ambulance shocked the world.

Due to their work, the White Helmets have received backing from more than 130 international organisations to win the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, among other accolades.

Honours aside, the resiliance shown by Syria's White Helmets is simply an extraordinary display of human determination and spirit in the face of crushing adversity.

With over 130 of the group's volunteers having been killed, often by intentional regime attacks, the high price that is paid by its recruits is testament to their undying determination of the group to see their country through to better days.

'The White Helmets,' directed by Orlando von Einsiedel and produced by Joanna Natasegara is set for release globally on Netflix on September 16.