Jihad: A Story of the Others (2015) Reviews

• Denial

  golgulok2017-02-12

  This is sugar coated, slickly shot, voiced with mellifluence. It blames everyone and everything... It is racism, it's being in a western society, and it's due to isolation. It goes on and on, family oppression - state oppression, poor education and work opportunities. Abu Muntasir's emotional moments seem forced and in my opinion lack genuine remorse, the range of people interviewed in very small indeed, the documentary simply does not discuss this subject with any depth what so ever. And this is a topic that needs some serious debate. Not once is the 'Book' discussed, not ONCE is the Hadith discussed - in which - every Muslim has to follow as the word of god, which commands without any room for interpretation Jihad, the establishment of the Caliphate and Sharia Law through violence if necessary.

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• Essential perspective

  matthewjohnbrown-311202018-12-11

  Surprising and deeply humane film about former jihadis that has made me revise my view of how these people are created.

• The "religion of pieces" again at it's worst.

  m20589302018-06-08

  Just another attempt to whitewash Islam as an ideology. These kind of documentaries are actually a disgrace to all the victims in the world, muslims and non-muslims who were massacred because they were just infidels.

• A well portrayed mix of Islam followers

  galileestudios2018-11-25

  If you don't consider the social consequence of fueling a war, the war may come to kill you. Violence is born of flesh. It doesn't regard who uses it. It is a great evil that comes to steal, kill and destroy. This documentary portrays the learned hatred of years under Islam Law. By the end of the documentary, there is such a "safe space" created, and we actually see the brokenness of man shrouded in shame. Sigh. It broke me. Shame is not the same as guilt. Shame says I am a mistake. Guilt says I made a mistake. If you put shame in a petri dish, it needs three things to grow exponentially: secrecy, silence and judgment. If you put the same amount in a Petri dish and douse it with empathy, it can't survive. The last interview was precious, Deeyah Khan. It was when you asked him if he forgave himself. To see a man in the "rhythm of weeping" over the memories of repressed trauma when the truth of shame is revealed by his sorrow. There is very little needed other than the love of a listening ear that wants to simply hear and understand. I wonder if you are a Christian. It was the question of his own forgiveness that seemed to come only from the spirit.

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• Moving stuff

  johnmaddison-838902018-06-23

  There are some embarrassingly mean-spirited reviews of this film here. I found these guys believable, and the film one of those most touching things I've seen in a while. I suspect the bad reviews are from people who have a religious agenda of their own and share the very emotional poverty that Deeyah attributed to these guys as young, foolish Jihadis. You hit the nail on the head, Deeyah. It's a thing that knows no boundaries, infecting religions, cultures and belief systems of every sort, and there will always be people whose hearts are so full of hatred, and, indeed, self-loathing, that they will twist anything into a channel to express that hatred. Sad as I am for their victims, I find it heartening to see how people can be pulled back from the brink, rescued from the darkness that once enveloped them, and I'm glad to see they found the answer in their own religion. We can all learn something from this insightful piece

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