Backed by FIFA s tacit support, Bashar al-Assad s government in Syria has woven soccer into its grisly campaign of oppression, tearing apart a generation of players.
The passion and idealism that fuel both successful and
attempted revolutions provide the human focus of Greg Barker’s “We Are the
Giant,” a dramatic account of people active in the movements sparked by the
Arab Spring. Looking at two people each in Libya, Syria and Bahrain, the film
doesn’t try to explain the political background or complexities of these
societies but instead offers haunting, up-close portraits of individuals who
elect to put their nations’ fates above their own.
Wrapped around the three accounts are slickly produced
graphics (scored with soaring music) that invoke popular uprisings before and
beyond the Arab Spring, from the American Revolution to more recent upheavals