Customer Reviews

The War Within

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It was inevitable that there would be a film about a terrorist bomber in New York. It's scary. And the fact that I saw it on the weekend that New Yorkers have been hearing about a terrorist plot in the subways makes it's especially timely - and especially frightening. Yes, here are all the landmarks I love so well, and the story is just too real for comfort.

The film begins in Paris shortly after 911, when Hassan, an American-educated Pakistani engineer, is forcibly arrested by American forces and sent to Karachi for interrogation and torture. When he is released three years later he is completely radicalized and goes back to America with the intent of destruction. His friend, Sayeed, knows nothing of Hassan's plans, and invites him to stay with his Americanized family in Jersey City. America has been good to Sayeed and he loves his adopted country and become increasingly shocked by Hassan's religious fervor and anti-American thinking.

There's a hint of romance with Sayeed's sister, who Hassan has known since childhood. But mostly Hassan spends a lot of time teaching Sayeed's young son the principles of the Muslim faith. When Hassan's bomb-making friends are arrested, he's left on his own, with the intention of carrying out Allah's will. He's conflicted on many levels though, struggling with his own "war within" as he moves forward to fulfill his intended purpose.

The film brings out the conflicts that exist in Muslim homes across America. There are some social gatherings where they debate these questions. Hassan sees no possibility of compromise though. He accuses his hosts of letting their soft lives in America make them weak. It is all very disturbing.

What was the most disturbing to me, though, were the shots of 42nd Street, Grand Central Station and the Holland Tunnel. And the fact that Hassan was a walking time bomb for destruction. Frankly, I couldn't help being terrified.

It is doubtful that this film will ever play in mainstream America. Already, the few critics have panned it. I think that's just because it is much too painful to watch. And the reason it's so painful is because of its truthfulness and authenticity.

This is an important film. See it if you can stand it.

Terrorist. The very word has taken on a life of its own. The image, fostered and encouraged by the current Bush Administration, is immediate and unquestioned: irrational, undereducated, brainwashed, rabid frothing at the mouth -- evil incarnate. Now with THE WAR WITHIN, director Joseph Castelo forces us to confront the terrorism issue from the other side, through the desperate and despairing eyes of an individual whose very radicalization is spawned by America's own post-9/11 policies in Iraq and elsewhere. In doing so, he takes us into the heart and soul of an educated man bent on revenge against the monolith that is America, telling a story whose depth and complexity put Hollywood's recent version, SYRIANA, to shame. THE WAR WITHIN is a brilliant and compelling examination of the many "wars within" - within the borders of the United States, within the American psyche, within a man's soul, within a circle of family and friends, even within the hearts of children.

The focus of Castelo's tale is Hassan, an engineer by training, a graduate of the University of Maryland who has furthered his studies in France. Seized on the streets of Paris by American forces under the policy of extraordinary rendition, Hassan is spirited away to Karachi, Pakistan where he is befriended by his cellmate, Khalid. Hassan is beaten and horribly tortured for information and is shown a brutally violent picture of his dead brother Mustafa, but he insists he knows nothing (a situation director Castelo properly leaves intentionally ambiguous). Three years later, Hassan enters the United States as a stowaway in a huge shipping container and reconnects with Khalid through the mysterious Izzy. We quickly learn that Khalid and Hassan himself have been radicalized (although we are not shown the process), presumably as a result of their treatment at the hands of their American kidnappers. They have joined a sleeper cell in New Jersey planning multiple simultaneous bombings in New York City.

At the same time the bombing plans are underway, Hassan visits the home of his long time friend Sayeed, a doctor who has happily settled into the American way of life, complete with wife, two children, and a live-in sister, Duri. Sayeed invites Hassan to stay in his home until he can find a job and get on his feet financially, a decision that leads to tragic consequences for Sayeed and his family. Sayeed senses that Hassan has changed from his younger days, that he has lost his carefree spirit and taken on the mantle of a pious religious practitioner. By the time Sayeed discovers the true nature of Hassan's transformation, it is too late; Sayeed's response only serves to pull him further into the web of Hassan's actions and make him appear to be a co-conspirator.

While not designed as an action movie, THE WAR WITHIN moves with riveting dramatic force toward an inescapable yet uncertain conclusion. We see the world through the eyes of an individual whose life was turned upside down, a man who was tortured and humiliated by a power much greater than himself, a powerless man who strikes back with the only weapons he has available. THE WAR WITHIN does not condone terrorism or sympathize with the terrorist - it simply tries to show us the other side of this phenomenon, the side we are so quick to demonize and so disinclined to contemplate. One can dismiss the perpetrators of terrorism out of hand as unworthy of such consideration, but in doing so, we fail to understand them and their motivations. As Sun Tzu said in THE ART OF WAR, "If ignorant of both your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril." As the final, heartbreaking scene of the movie suggests, our unthinking, knee-jerk responses may only serve to create the next generation of radicalized terrorists.

I saw this movie in New York, of all places. It was thrilling. It is less a film about terrorism and more about people caught in the vortex of an impossible situation. Ayad Akhatar, as the suicide bomber, is very good. Firdous Bamji as his best friend is the heart of this movie and heart breaking. His "war within" is really the most interesting part of this film. The rest of the cast does admirable work. And the end will leave you absolutely shattered. And determined to change the world.

I watched this film two nights ago, and have since been continually haunted by it day and night. Has anyone else seen this amazing, harrowing and thought provoking film?

The story takes place relatively soon following September 11th. Hassan, a brilliant young Pakistani engineer - U.S. educated, now living in Paris, is mistakenly identified as a terrorist, abducted and arrested by the U.S. and sent away where he is tortured relentlessly, interrogated and broken for a period of three years. He is a liberal, non-religious man who openly disdains his fundamentalist Muslim cellmate and all he stands for. However, this cellmate bathes, feeds him and cares for Hassan tending to his wounds and patiently befriending him. Naturally, over the three years, a bond is formed (we see this mostly through flashbacks later in the film) - and upon his release Hassan heads for the United States to join a sleeper cell intent on destroying a major U.S. facility. Arriving in the U.S. he is reunited with his best friend from Pakistan and his family who have become somewhat liberal in their religion and blend into the cultural melting pot that is American society. Hassan is confused, and tortured, but devout.

I won't go into or give away further details of the tale (and the above shouldn't ruin anything - it's only slightly more elaborate than what's on the outside of the box), but the movie had me alternately enraged, uplifted and embarassed.

The performances are uniformly excellent with Ayad Akhtar taking pride of place in an absolutely astonishing big screen debut as Hassan. Combining a prideful arrogance, intelligence, confusion, newfound rabid religiousity borne of anger, Akhtar establishes Hassan's character strongly from the beginning, but still has plenty in reserve to show a remarkable arc of character development. (Akhtar also co-wrote the taut, emotional screenplay, which is a work of art.)

Naturally, the film did not do well in America, because it doesn't embrace any one idea: pro or con - of terrorism. It merely shows and serves to explain why it exists and anyone who can't wrap themselves around the "why" needs to re-examine their ideas of world history, the cultures of oppression, the Crusades and genocide in the modern world in general. "The War Within" really is a powerhouse of a film that should cause some soul searching - and a war within.

p.

I too saw this movie in new york and was instantly touched at the end like most movies can't do. I had tears in my eyes.
This film fully captures the perspective of the terrorist. We are equipped to condemn them for their beliefs and their actions but sometimes we don't always understand why they do what they do....what if we were in their shoes? would we do the same? How would injustice change you? I'm not defending terrorism but i am saying why not step outside of yourself and look at it from their perspective and maybe try to understand their actions to some degree. I bet for some of them it's difficult to do what they do and it breaks their hearts to put themselves in that position. This is a film about an indignant human being who fully explores that type of complexity.
Very well worth it!

THE WAR WITHIN is a profoundly disturbing movie while at the same time a film that should be seen by as wide an audience as possible. Wearing blinders in an era when terrorism is such a threat does not make fear go away. Learning the mindset of those who perpetrate terrorist acts provides some invaluable insights that may, just may, reduce the schism between factions that in reality are simply separate groups with profound beliefs and fears.

Hassan (Ayad Akhtar, who co-wrote the script) is a Pakistani, American-educated youth in Paris for graduate training when he is abducted in the streets of Paris as a suspect dissident. Transported to Pakistan and incarcerated in a small cell with another victim Khalid (Charles Daniel Sandoval) the two survive brutal interrogations and torture at the hands of Americans for information they do not have. The story then jumps three years forward, finding a radically different, bruised Hassan returning to America hidden in a ship's container. His experiences have changed him to a religious Islamic devotee and he joins a terrorist cell in New Jersey to take part in terrorist suicide bombings of New York City. Hassan visits his dear friend Sayeed (Firdous Bamji) and his family and sister with whom Hassan, though attracted, cannot pursue for religious reasons. The family notes Hassan's mental changes and grows concerned for him, eventually finding out about his terrorist intentions.

The inner workings of the terrorist cell bring much light as to the religious drive toward martyrdom, and slowly we begin to understand Hassan's motivations and convictions - a fact that allows us to find compassion for a soul driven to acts of violence and extinction. It is terrifying but at the same time desperately moving.

The film's script is multilingual with subtitles when English is not spoken, but there is a major problem with the soundtrack in that much of the dialogue is so soft or whispered that it simply cannot be heard - and the dialogue is important. Director Joseph Castelo paces this dark story well, allowing the inner thoughts of each of the varied characters to emerge gradually. The cinematography is appropriately toned and the acting is absolutely first rate. THE WAR WITHIN goes beyond the realm of a terrorist story and personalizes the individual wars within each of us in this time of global chaos. For one of the first times we are allowed to see how sensitive young people can metamorphose into suicide bombers, and observing that transformation is heartbreaking. A brilliant little film and one Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, May 06

I don't know about anyone else, but watching the film The War Within has given me a new perspective on terrorism against the United States, especially from a possible terrorist's point of view. Whether the subject in the film is forced into it through brutal imprisonment or through conscience decisions the film gives a point of view rarely seen in the United States.

The War Within forced feelings on me that I would rather not have, but that I recognize as essential. The film's protagonist is a mild Pakistani engineer, kidnapped in error on a Paris street by the CIA, tortured, and radicalized by his baseless mistreatment. He comes out of imprisonment and torture a terrorist, a suicide bomber, assigned to wreak havoc in New York. His original innocence, and our collective guilt, does nothing in my eyes to lessen his loathesomeness. He is a traitor to everything I believe in, to trust, to honor, to self. He worships and obeys a pitiless, tyrant, monster god beyond my power to conceive or to wish to conceive. But he is presented, convincingly, as a human being, and that convincingness presents me with a very serious problem. It is not that I find him sympathetic. It is not that I find myself saying, "That could be me." I despise and reject him and all his works, and cannot conceive of myself following a path such as his. And yet, and yet...he is a man. He is a sane man, and by his own lights, a good man, a principled man. What I am to hope for if I am to recognize such a creature as a fellow human being? This film did not permit me, as films usually do, to write off the villain as a preening Nazi sadist or a bloody Mafia thug, one who has shed his humanity and become something less than an animal. No. This man is me. And yet he can not be me.

There is a suggestion, at the end of the film, that in response to 9/11, the United States has involved itself in an endless cycle of violence and injustice that is continuously creating exactly what it has learned to fear. I find, in the behavior of my government, some strong reasons to accept such a thesis, but nonetheless, I think it is wrong. I believe we must and will find another way. This film is a lesson to me in how exceedingly difficult it is not to enter into that hopeless cycle when confronted by an enemy to whom violence is virtue and self-destruction nobility.

Unfortunately, such movies never achieve a mass viewing. Yet the events portrayed are so very pertinent: the conflict between the majority of Muslims who detest violence from a human and religious point of view, and the few who are misled is played out on the screen. I personally wish more Americans would watch this film if for no other reason then to raise awareness, to ask themselves why, and to, hopefully, realise that the ongoing unpleasantness is not purely the work of crazies, but rather of human beings reacting (however wrongly) to violence, fear, hurt, and hate. We are all familiar with "every action has an equal but opposite reaction." Not enough Americans are familiar with the former aspect. As such, the latter came as a surprise to many.

the point of this movie is to show the contrary perspective as to what motivates the terrorist - that he is captured, tortured by the military which makes him seek revenge and thus become a terrorist bent on destruction.

but are all terrorists only so because they too went through the same abuse? were the 9/11 terrorists too brutalized by the army and was theirs an act of revenge?

or do all people who have faced police brutality become terrorists who kill innocent civilians?

i'm from india and even as i write this, only two days back, synchronized bombings ripped through the "pink city" of jaipur killing hundreds. india has been facing such attacks and mindless religion inspired violence for the last 20 years and so excuse me if i am not convinced by this line of argument as presented by this film.