10 Lesser Known Movies To Look Forward To In 2017
6. City of Ghosts
Documentaries have the potential to be the most powerful of
movie forms out there because, in an admittedly oxymoronic way, they’re telling
the untold stories.
Michael Heinemann’s name, like Charles Ferguson or Adam Curtis, carries a significant amount of punch in this field since his 2015 work Cartel Land, a savage and brutal look at ordinary people and vigilantes involved in the Mexican drug wars. It was the sort of film that squirted lemon juice into your open wounds.
He’d be completely forgiven for taking a backward step on his next project, perhaps taking a look at a lighter subject, something where maybe he wouldn’t get shot at. A piece on Ansel Adams maybe, or the rise of fake news.
But no, Heinemann dived head first into the maelstrom of hornet’s nests that is Raqqa; a Syrian city currently under the control of ISIL. City of Ghosts follows a group of citizen journalists attempting to expose what is currently happening to their city. If Raqqa is being silently slaughtered, then this is at least attempting to make a little bit of noise.
Amidst all the glamour that 2017 promises, City of Ghosts seems like the most unmissable movie.