The Unsophisticates Update #5

SFF Film - The Oath (Documentary)

Wow! Straight up I have apologise to the person who was sitting next to me seeing as I think I sat there with my mouth agape for most of the screening. This film was gripping. The title of the film - ‘the oath’ - is the name given to a brief pledge sworn by new members upon their induction into Al Qaeda. This compelling documentary tells the story of two men and a fateful encounter in 1996 that led them both to Osama Bin Laden and then onto an extraordinary course of events. The first man is Abu Jandal who was once Osama Bin Laden’s bodyguard and is now a taxi driver in Yemen. The other man is Abu’s brother in law (and Bin Laden’s former driver), Salim Hamdan, who since became a prisoner at Gauntanamo Bay and was then the first man to be taken to trial under the military tribunals that the Bush Administration devised post 9/11.

This film is directed by American director Loira Poitras. Her first Oscar nominated documentary - “My Country, My Country”- was made in occupied Iraq and explored the lead up to the 2005 Iraqi elections. For ‘The Oath’, Poitras apparently shot all of her footage alone in Yemen which she filmed over a two year period, and a dozen trips to Yemen. A brave woman you might say! Brave because of the obvious danger she puts herself in when filming as a female foreigner in war torn territories, but also brave because her documentaries put forward a perspective that is often counter to the one US promotes. Just one of the many reasons that make her latest film such a compelling watch.

She describes her approach as ‘macro-micro’ which essentially entails “following an individual story to look at the bigger questions”. The individual story that is used in ‘The Oath’ is that of Abu Jandal. The film mostly looks at the war on terror from his point of view and he’s a particularly engaging storyteller but presents with some contradictions that as a viewer, I found myself constantly trying to reconcile (e.g. he has renounced terrorism but still supports Al Qaeda). He’s articulate and full of charisma and oozes charm, which at times made me wonder if I wasn’t being seduced by him myself! The continual close ups of Abu Jandals face, as he is being interviewed or while he is driving his taxi, had the effect of making me feel a very close and personal connection with him. Whilst we do not get the same opportunity to connect with Salim Hamdan given we don’t actually get to meet him during the film, we do meet his family, and we do get to hear some of his letters from prison which all adds to the emotion in the lead up to the trial.

‘The Oath’ is really a commentary on the consequences of American foreign policy. Both during and after the screening you can’t help but wonder about the implications of deciding someone is guilty by association, about whether the human consequences of political decisions are sufficiently considered, and about the fairness of legal systems that change the rules part way through the game. In fact it seems the only thing you aren’t left wondering about, is that in these situations there is always so much more grey than black and white. Interestingly, Poitras is aiming for a post 9/11 trilogy, with the third documentary potentially exploring the controversial topic of US surveillance.

This movie definitely moved me. Regardless of your opinion on Al Qaeda and the war on terror, this is a rare opportunity to gain some insight into a perspective that isn’t often publicized and will no doubt help us all to understand the region, and the associated issues a little more and what harm could possibly come from that? I swear I was blown away by ‘The Oath’, its Oscar nomination is well deserved and I for one will be hanging out for the third installment in Poitras’ trilogy.