Warbirds Review – war correspondents find love among the ruins | Video

Politics are set aside here in favor of matters of the heart; this is a story of romantic love among ruins. London-based Lebanese journalist Janay Boulos, working for the BBC in Arabic, fell in love in 2016 with Syrian activist and journalist Abd Alkader Habak. He, during the Assad regime, risked his life to provide him with breathtaking pictures from his hometown of Idlib and later Aleppo. Habakkuk owned it to make international headlines in 2017 being photographed carrying an injured child to safety.

Habaki’s grueling footage is interspersed with Boulos’ phone footage of him riding up and down the BBC Broadcasting House lifts and home videos of his childhood in the Lebanese coastal town of Byblos; we find their love notes and words showing their growing relationship, lovingly calling each other “bird” and “little bird”. Finally Habakkuk came out of Syria and Turkey; the couple married and lived in London, attending pro-Palestinian marches. Habaki has mixed feelings about watching Syria’s final liberation on TV and Boulos returns to visit his parents Lebanon where Israel’s activities are derided, even Hezbollah is not mentioned.

Inevitably, there are other things: when Boulos and Habaki are in the frame separately we can see how this shot is based on training alone; later, when we can see them embracing, speaking emotionally and spontaneously to each other, the camera is probably already set on a tripod. The moments when they reveal their marriage to their parents are not captured. In all cases, it is a real story with personality and charm.