Unsettling Save the Children video asks, 'What if London were Syria?'

Perhaps you've seen these second-a-day videos before? They tend to go viral. They also tend to be heartwarming snapshots of life.

This video, however, is nothing of the sort. In 90 seconds we watch as a British girl's happy and safe world cracks under the onset of war until it is demolished completely. After losing most of her family and coming close to death herself, the girl is shown celebrating another birthday under considerably bleaker circumstances. The video ends with the words: "Just because it isn't happening here, doesn't mean it isn't happening."

YouTube

Watch On

Save the Children UK released the PSA just days ahead of the third anniversary of Syria's uprising-turned-civil war, which has killed more than 140,000 people and made refugees of some 2.5 million more.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"We hope the video will resonate with members of the public, particularly those who don't know much about the situation in Syria so they can really understand the plight of innocent Syrian children," a Save the Children spokesperson told The Independent.

The video certainly is a striking attempt to make another country's war feel terrifyingly close to home.