All language subtitles for VICE.S07E03.Battle.for.Idlib.and.Seeking.Solitude.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-NTb

Can hear this drone overhead,

so having to stay
under the trees.

Go, go.

Shit.
That's a drone.

Russian and Syrian jets
are circling.

♪ dramatic music ♪

How you feeling?

speaking native language

[Isobel]
We spent the last few days

seeing children
who were being slaughtered,

and you're okay with having
a direct role in that.

♪♪♪

[bowl rings]

[Dexter] I was in South Korea

before
the major outbreak there

and found a different
understanding of isolation.

Yo.

It's kind of intense.

They give you this workbook.

Like, if you die
in one year,

what do you want to do
with the rest of your life?

Wow.

♪ heavy electronic music ♪

♪♪♪

People will die!

♪♪♪

[gun cocks]

♪♪♪

♪ mournful music ♪

♪♪♪

Let's just find out
what we know.

[man] Come on!

Come on, come on, come on,
come on, come on!

[Isobel] What's happening?

Go, go, go!
Run, run, run.

Run, run, run, run!

Run!

[man] Run!

[Isobel]
What's happening?

[man] We just started to run.

[Isobel]
So we're just trying to get

to what we think
is a Russian air strike,

um, not very long ago,

um, and as
we're approaching it,

the guys ahead of us, um,

saw what they think
is a fighter jet

circling ahead.

[sighs]
It is just terrifying.

I mean, this is
a fully residential area.

In Idlib, Syria's
last rebel-held province,

nowhere is safe.

With fears of a fighter jet
circling overhead,

we left quickly
for the nearby hospital.

♪♪♪

Are these bodies
from just now?

[Isobel] Oh, my God.

- [Isobel] It's a child?
- [man] Yeah.

It's a young boy.
Oh, my God, that's...

heartbreaking.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

[sobs]

♪♪♪

[monitor beeping]

♪♪♪

[Isobel] He's just suddenly
stopped breathing.

They're trying
to resuscitate him.

[speaking in native language]

He was--stopped breathing
for a good few minutes,

and those guys were pumping
and pumping and pumping,

and nothing.

There was a power cut
in the middle of it.

I cannot believe
he's alive.

Ten died, and seven
were badly injured

in this one attack,
this one night,

but in Idlib,
this is the daily reality.

It's been nine years
since protests

against Syrian president
Bashar al-Assad

escalated into one
of the most brutal civil wars

in living memory.

Hundreds of thousands
are dead.

Over two-thirds of the country
have been displaced.

Backed by allies
Russia and Iran,

who have economic
and political interests

across the region,

the Syrian president
is now retaking

more and more land.

Many of the civilians who fled

have been pushed here,
to Idlib.

But since December
of last year,

the regime has intensified
its push

to retake the territory

from rebel
and jihadist groups.

With three million civilians
caught in the cross fire,

this campaign has led

to the worst
humanitarian crisis

of the entire war so far.

Part of that
are bombing campaigns

that seem to target civilians,
not fighters.

On February 25th,

eight schools were bombed
across Idlib Province.

This one was housing
displaced families

and providing classes
for children.

One of those kids
was nine-year-old Dalaa.

She survived the strike
with only a minor foot injury.

[Isobel] We wanted to know
if Dalaa's school

was intentionally targeted.

We found that on the day
of the strike,

between 1:15 and 2:01 p.m.,

local spotters noted
five sightings

of observation planes flying
in nearby areas.

At 3:35 p.m.,

a Russian fighter jet
was then spotted

circling just five miles
from Dalaa's school,

and just two minutes later,
at 3:37 p.m.,

the missiles struck,

suggesting this may have been

a planned, targeted attack

on a school full of kids.

Careful, careful.

Is this blood here?

Mm.

♪♪♪

[Isobel] So you were
living here,

and you had classes here
as well.

♪♪♪

Oh, careful, careful.

You okay?

♪♪♪

What's--what's happening?

Dalaa hears a jet overhead

and is immediately
paralyzed with fear.

Oh, my God,
you're shaking so much.

How are you feeling?

♪♪♪

[Isobel] What would you say
to President Assad

if you met him today?

♪ uneasy music ♪

[Isobel] These attacks
by Assad and his allies

are relentless,

but the rebels,
backed by Turkey,

are fighting back.

♪♪♪

We're just moving
towards an area

where the rebels
are launching rockets,

and up here, we can see
this is rebel-held territory

because of these circles
in the sky

where jets have been flying
overhead,

figuring out
where they're gonna drop.

♪♪♪

So these guys are about
to launch a rock--

[boom]

Shit.

Into regime-held territory.

Um, we're having to stay low

under the shades of the trees
because, as you can see,

the Russian and Syrian jets
are circling

around these guys, so--

trying to figure out
where their positions are.

♪♪♪

Is that a drone?

It's a drone?
A drone?

Stay still.

[engine humming]

Shit.

♪ tense music ♪

- Go, go.
- [Isobel] Shit.

♪♪♪

Can hear this drone overhead,

which is just searching
for any form of movement,

so having to stay
under the trees

in the hopes
they don't spot us.

[Isobel] Move quick, quick.
Move quick.

Drone!
Fuck.

♪♪♪

Go, go, go.

[chatter in native language]

[distant explosion]

[Isobel] To avoid
being targeted

by aircrafts overhead,

the rebels are constantly
on the move.

♪♪♪

[Isobel]
What are these tanks?

So you were just 15
when the revolution started.

What were you doing
back then?

The Syrian regime has justified
the bombardment of Idlib

by saying that what
they're fighting against

is terrorists, and, I mean,
there has been so much movement

between different
rebel factions,

different rebel groups.

Do they have a point?

[Isobel] The rebels
are determined

that Assad's forces will pay.

[Isobel] In 2015,
they successfully captured

a Syrian regime colonel

who was on a mission
to Aleppo

when his engine failed.

Five years on,
we spoke with him

in a secret location.

He's not only complicit,

but has directly participated

in Assad's
slaughtering campaigns.

[both greeting in Arabic]

Obviously, we're only able
to talk with you

because the opposition forces
who are in charge here

have allowed us
to meet with you.

Have you been pressured
into talking with us

or saying certain things
to us?

[Isobel] You were captured
in 2015.

Um, there's video footage

of you guys
prepping three barrel bombs.

What was the mission
that you were on?

Do you know if there
were civilians

where you were trying
to drop those bombs?

You're okay with dropping bombs

on what you're 90 percent sure
could land on civilians?

Over the last few years,
we've seen millions

of Syrian citizens, civilians,
having to flee,

hundreds of thousands of people
losing their lives.

We spent the last few days
seeing children

who are being slaughtered
intentionally by the regime,

and you're okay with being
a part of that,

and not only a part of it,

but having a direct role
in that.

Arguably, I mean,
it's the willingness

of people like yourself

to participate in what can only
be described as war crimes

which allows this war
to continue.

Does that haunt you?

[Isobel] With Assad,
his troops, and his allies

intent on retaking Idlib
at any cost,

almost a million people
have been displaced

as a result of the fighting.

Satellite images
taken one year apart

show the expansion
of refugee camps

in the areas close
to the Turkish border:

a mass exodus.

[Isobel] Those who make it out
are taken to makeshift camps,

like this one in Idlib City's
football stadium,

which has so far
escaped the bombs.

It currently shelters
1,500 displaced people.

Around half of those
are children.

Local volunteers
like Abd al Qadir

try to help the children cope

with their dire circumstances.

Okay, okay, okay.

Hey.
Ooh, come on.

- [Isobel] Hey, hey, hey.
- [boy] Hey, hey.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
Buddy, bu--hey, no.

No, no, no, no.
Hey, are you okay?

[Isobel] The children here
were born into this war,

but with only
a fragile ceasefire in place

and fears of COVID-19
now spreading like wildfire

across these sprawling camps,

people here hold a future
where vulnerability

and uncertainty
are all that's known.

♪ desolate music ♪

[all singing]

♪♪♪

♪ somber music ♪

♪♪♪

♪ quiet electronic music ♪

♪♪♪

[Dexter] Right now,
the entire state of California

is basically on lockdown
because of coronavirus.

I'm at my apartment
in Los Angeles, self-isolating,

and wherever
you're watching this,

you might be doing
the same thing, too.

What you're about to watch
right now

was filmed
before this all happened.

I was in South Korea

before the major outbreak
happened there,

and way before
the United States government

was taking this all seriously.

I was there
because I was curious

about how our modern society
deals with things

like mental health
and depression,

and it sounded like
some people in South Korea

might have some answers.

♪♪♪

♪ folksy string music ♪

♪♪♪

We're about two hours
outside of Seoul,

and I'm headed to go spend
a day in jail.

This is a program
called Prison Inside Me,

and basically, the idea is,

South Korea right now has
the highest rate of suicide

among developed nations,

and there's a lot of people
feeling stressed out.

So there's a person
who's come up with a program

where you pay money
to spend a day or longer

in kind of a mock-up jail cell,

and you meditate,
you chill out, you disconnect.

So I'm gonna go
participate in that

and hopefully feel better
about my life.

♪♪♪

Seems like if Urban Outfitters
designed a prison,

this would--this would be it.

♪ gentle string music ♪

♪♪♪

Yo.

This is--
this is really small.

I can't even lie down sideways.

[laughing]
This thing is tiny.

Bed.
Where's the bed?

♪♪♪

Okay, that's plumbing.

Okay, there's my bed.

There's my pillow.

I got a tea set, actually,
which looks very nice,

and I got a view.

[bowl ringing]

♪♪♪

♪ serene music ♪

♪♪♪

[soft ringing tone
continues]

[laughs]

[whispering]
They gave me a potato...

[laughs]
And a banana milkshake.

This is my dinner.

Oh, my God.

They gave me a potato
and a milkshake.

♪ low electronic music ♪

♪♪♪

So I've been in here
about four hours.

It's kind of cool
lying on your back, though,

and then staring up
at the window,

and you just see clouds go by
when there's clouds.

♪♪♪

What is it that is

stressing people out so much
in South Korea?

It seems like kind of
the core guiding principle

of Prison Inside Me

is that people don't have
enough time on their own.

Do you think
that's a problem here,

that people don't have
enough time by themselves?

[chimes tinkling]

[metallic plucking sounds]

So this is
what I've been doing for--

I probably did this
for about an hour.

When you get bored,

this is how you entertain
yourself.

♪ gentle music ♪

When you come in,
they give you this workbook.

It's kind of intense.

Like, they want you
to draw a graph

of your life,

the good moments
and the bad moments.

So you gotta start
from when you're a baby

and go all the way until now.

The good parts
are up here,

and this is the happy zone,

and this is the sad zone.

But looking at it, I mean,

I guess I realize,

"Oh, okay.
My life's--

I guess my life's
not that bad."

This one here--
"If you die a year from now,

what do you want to do?"--
they make you draw a picture.

Man, if I knew
that I had a year left

and that was it...
I'd stop everything.

I'd get a bunch of books,
play a bunch of video games,

listen to music,
hang out with my friends,

and I wouldn't do
a damn thing.

That's what I would do.

♪♪♪

I guess you could say
that this is just an escape--

I mean, coming here
for 24 hours or whatever.

It doesn't fix anything.
As soon as I go outside,

I'm gonna have
to answer emails,

family obligations,
work obligations.

This is like hitting pause

and knowing
as soon as you go back outside,

the rest of the world is--
is waiting for you.

If you told me I had
to spend the next month here

instead of just all
the stressful obligations

and stuff like that outside,

I'd probably take you up on it
right now.

I would sit in this room

rather than deal with
all that garbage outside,

man, no joke.

Wow.

[bowl ringing]

♪ synth music ♪

[light clapping]

[Dexter] Sitting in this room
and listening

to the problems
that people had--

they sounded
really familiar to me.

Nothing seemed
particularly Korean.

Do you think this program

could also work,
say, in the U.S.?

♪ folksy music ♪

♪♪♪

♪♪