The Oath

For the past decade or so, we have suffered from an inability to comprehend, or even to imagine, the inner lives of the young men who wage jihad as members of Al Qaeda. Who are these men, so eager for asceticism, violence, and martyrdom? At first, we think that’s what we’ll learn from “The Oath,” a fascinating documentary directed, produced, and shot by Laura Poitras.

There is a telling moment about midway through Laura Poitras' riveting new documentary "The Oath," an intimate portrait of Osama bin Laden's former bodyguard, Abu Jandal, and Salim Hamdan, Bin Laden's driver, who spent years jailed at Guantanamo Bay. By this point in the film, Jandal seems familiar, an articulate and insightful man, cleverly ironic, candid about his Al Qaeda allegiance, a gentle father [...] Vai alla recensione »