While we go about our daily lives, complaining about slightly uncomfortable weather conditions and the price of non-essential goods there is a civil war raging in Syria that seems to have slipped the attention of the masses. This raw and unforgiving short film is the way for you to get up to date with the savage conflict tearing up a Syrian city.

A French photographer, using the assumed identity of “Mani” was behind the lines on 3 February when conflict broke out in the city of Homs, Syria. The uprising is part of the Arab Spring and rebel forces, comprising guerrilla fights and army defectors among others, are challenging the current regime.

The footage, which was smuggled out of Syria earlier this month, was featured on Britain’s Channel 4 on Wednesday night and unlike the grainy, low-quality images that usually make it out of similar circumstances, Mani’s footage is crystal clear.

Jonathan Miller of Channel 4 News observed, “While the world has become used to grainy shaky and gruesome footage and images from Homs fed through whatever Internet connection is available, Mani’s crystal clear and incredible footage gives perhaps the clearest and most frightening account of what Homs has been like for the past three weeks.”

The reason why so few people are aware of the conflict is because the Syrian government has been trying to quash the issue and the rebellion itself.

In a recent analysis of the widening gyre in Syria, the International Crisis Group wrote that while “the regime strove to deny the existence of a deep-seated popular protest movement,” at first, choosing instead to claim it was battling foreign-backed armed gangs, “now that it faces an emerging insurgency coupled with a broad international coalition bent on its demise, it appears wholly unprepared to cope with the very enemy it initially fantasized and which its short-sighted behavior largely helped bring to life.”

The powerful footage paints a bleak portrait of life during conflict and some viewers may find it disturbing, which is exactly why it needs to be seen. Stop looking away, open your eyes and see what’s really happening around us and then think again about what really matters.

[Source: NYT]