In Jihad Rehab, firefighter-turned-documentarian Meg Smaker follows three 30-something Yemeni males on the “world’s first terrorist rehabilitation” facility. In concept at the very least, the Mohammed bin Nayef Counseling and Care Heart in Saudi Arabia sounds proper. The place acts as a 12-month cleaning gateway into civilized society for former Guantanamo Bay detainees, most of whom have been al-Qaeda members arrested in Afghanistan following the 9/11 assaults. Given the place the middle is situated, Smaker’s entry is nothing lower than extraordinary. Her personal time within the Center East turns into evident from the belief she establishes along with her Arab-speaking interviewees. The three males – Nadir, Ali and Mohammed – don’t simply converse to her; they confide. The initially cagey reactions counsel that they nonetheless suppose they’re being interrogated. They aren’t used to being requested for the sake of asking. As soon as they get snug, although, Smaker’s empathetic (versus sympathetic) gaze lets our personal uncomfortable questions emerge: Are 12 months of studying speculated to undo twenty years of cultural conditioning? Is one yr of therapeutic speculated to wipe out 15 years of wounding?
At first, I used to be apprehensive that the bureaucratic hoops Smaker might need needed to bounce by means of would pressure her to exhibit this middle in a sure manner. As an illustration, when the ‘college students’ are given a while off to go to their family, the documentary all however morphs right into a Saudi Arabia tourism advert. There’s no manner the authorities would have agreed to a full crucial examine – the professionals and cons – of the controversial place. Entry at all times comes at a value. However as Jihad Rehab progresses, it turns into obvious that Smaker lets her personal curiosity do the speaking. Her artwork turns right into a smokescreen for the movie’s journalistic integrity. Generally, presenting the details is healthier than designing a narrative.
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Whereas the Islamic course is constructed to mentally reintegrate these males into the world, the digicam doesn’t draw back from filming its blind spots. By merely recording, it’s additionally revealing. The gender research lectures, as an illustration, replicate a usually regressive view in direction of girls. When Mohammed, essentially the most emotional and vibrant of them, will get indignant with Smaker in direction of the tip, he goes on a “girls like it’s best to get married” rant as a result of he is aware of no higher. The teachings that have been speculated to sensitize him weren’t precisely flawless. Then there’s the middle’s 85 p.c success charge, with the instructors skirting duty for the odd violent relapse.
Most significantly, Smaker’s considerate interviews expose the complicity of an America determined for 9/11 solutions. The schooling they obtain on the middle is just not practically sufficient, principally as a result of the lads who enter this place are already damaged after years of torture and imprisonment. Nadir, Ali and Mohammed have been youngsters once they have been recruited by al-Qaeda, and nonetheless youngsters once they have been captured by US forces searching for simple heads to serve a bloodthirsty President Bush. They weren’t near the highest when it comes to energy, though considered one of them was Bin Laden’s bodyguard. When the three begin to describe their 15 years at Guantanamo Bay, the current movie The Mauritanian involves thoughts. That is in direction of the start of the documentary, in order that the viewer can admire that their bitterness in direction of a merciless America has not destroyed them (but). I discovered myself in awe of their coherence regardless of the lifelong ordeal. That they’ll sit in entrance of an American filmmaker and converse of these days with out breaking down is a testomony to their fortitude and Smaker’s expertise as a seeker of humanity.
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As well as, Smaker doesn’t spare her hosts from scrutiny. She has no qualms following the story into unchartered territory. At one level, the discharge of the graduates is imminent, however will get indefinitely postponed when Saudi undergoes an abrupt change in management. The stance in direction of terrorism modifications, and it’s as soon as once more unclear when they are going to be free. The wait continues. But, she continues to movie them in pursuit of a much bigger image. Submit their launch, as soon as she’s denied permission to shoot anymore within the nation, she contains her wrestle to finish the documentary, too. These elements converse to the hypocrisy of a tradition that appears extra eager about showcasing a change in picture than really training it. That the middle is finally changed into a detention facility for “political dissenters” proves that the world these males are launched into is just not very completely different from the one which brainwashed them. It asks the one easy query the documentary is eager about: Does true freedom exist?
The post-center parts evoke elements of The Shawshank Redemption, the place the world that when promised to soak up the outliers shuts all their doorways on their return. You’re feeling for the bittersweet scenario of the three males – their freedom is closely restricted, so that they aren’t positive whether or not to really feel fortunate to exit Guantanamo Bay or really feel cursed to be caught in a land with no alternative. A second likelihood at life is barely an approximation of life. I’ll be sincere: I used to be so provoked by the documentary that I needed to cool off for a number of days earlier than penning this evaluation. The unflinching honesty of Jihad Rehab made me indignant – about USA and its vanity, about Afghanistan, about Riyadh, in regards to the human spirits which can be restored solely to be crushed once more. It additionally made me grateful for filmmakers like Meg Smaker, who take unprecedented leaps of religion with out realizing the place they are going to land. With Jihad Rehab, she creates a hearth that can’t be doused.
