Own the rights?
24 out of 32 people found the following review useful: Not just important (though it is) or groundbreaking (though it is) but also brilliant, 6 September 2004 Author: Graham Deans Williamson (gdwilliamson@deathsdoor.co.uk) from Middlesbrough, England
It's a rare moment indeed when a TV movie becomes a film of the year contender, but here it is - Antonia Bird's Hamburg Cell, ignominiously dumped on Channel 4 after a run at the Edinburgh festival. Reportedly some American companies have expressed an interest in distributing this movie theatrically in the US - I say our American readers should jump at the chance. This really is an astonishing film - a combination of the geopolitical savvy and naturalistic acting of the Makhmalbafs with a flavour of sixties and seventies US political thrillers, overlaid by a hideous atmosphere of death. Think of it as All The Jihadist's Men, or The Bosnian Candidate...Though the title and advertising hinted at an ensemble drama, this is really the story of two men - Ziad Jarrah, a Westernised Muslim who falls under the influence of terrorist mastermind Mohammed Atta, and Jarrah's absorption into fundamentalism, culminating in the events of September 11th 2001. As Jarrah, Karim Saleh is a major find, coping expertly at the outset with Jarrah's changing world view and shading the character to show that crucially, what Atta offered Jarrah above all else was confidence and a sense of purpose. He catches the drama of a man both part of and at war with the modern world through understated little details - I especially liked his nervous pause after his flight instructor said "fuck". Later on, he adds a third side to the character, embodied in a fixed stare that seems to both plead with and threaten anyone it rests on. It could freeze a grown man's blood on its own. It is important not to fall into the trap of praising this film simply because it's the first major dramatisation of one of the most important events in recent world history. It is entirely possible, after all, for a film to deal with a serious subject and be bad at the same time. I've searched for some kind of artistic deficiency in what Bird has done, and there doesn't seem to be one. Above all else, the film is pacy and almost indecently gripping. Within the first fifteen minutes, I could hardly bear to look away from the screen, throughout the final forty minutes I was shaking. Bird offers few stylistic flourishes. Each character is introduced by a freeze-frame and a caption, and further captions fill the viewer in on events too complex or bureaucratic to effectively dramatise. Most of the film is coolly low-key in its presentation of events, and yet it's still remarkable how economical and intelligent Bird's direction is. Every scene glows with metaphors and inspired juxtapositions, such as a mobile phone ringing in a mosque or readings from the Koran over grainy CCTV footage.Ronan Bennett's script is similarly astute. One moment brilliantly captures the hypocrisy of all fundamentalism, as Jarrah tries to blend in at his graduation from a Miami flight school and asks for a hamburger and a pint. Then he almost blows his cover by attacking the beer with the fervor of someone whose religion has forbade him from drinking for the past two years, and breezes back to Atta with scarcely a thought for the contradiction. Atta, played by the opera singer Kamel, is necessarily a less complex character than Jarrah, but he gets a few moments that would be funny if they weren't so overshadowed by death and hatred - one where his mother asks him when she'll become a grandmother, and some bizarre instructions to the cell which sound more like preparations for a date than preparations for mass murder ("Take a shower. Shave all excess body hair. Wear cologne").I suppose the final question is, does this drama glamourise or sympathize with the hijackers? I believe all but the most prejudiced viewers (see the 'reviewer' below, who damns the entire film on the basis of five seconds of newsreel footage) will agree that this is a sensitive and non-judge mental drama that could never offend anyone's sensibilities. Indeed, the film's American release is eagerly awaited by several 9/11 victims' groups who applaud the effort to understand the fundamentalist mindset. Bird and Bennett give their characters more than enough rope to hang themselves, only coming close to editorialising when Jarrah's cousin speaks damningly of al-Qaeda: "They hate everything modern. Except their guns! Oh, they love their guns..."If it is possible to sympathize with someone while abhorring everything they stand for, then it is possible to feel a little sorry for Jarrah, especially when a romantic evening with his wife a few days before September 11th is interrupted by a text message from Atta telling him to say his final goodbye to her. In moments like this, the horrible enormity of what Jarrah feels he must do is brought home tragically. But in the end, Jarrah's obvious humanity only serves to condemn him further. He was once a normal man. He could have turned back, stopped the Cell, blown the whistle to the FBI. But as the screen fades to white and the credits roll silently, we are left with the fact that he didn't. What could reflect on a man more damningly than that?
18 out of 23 people found the following review useful: A Very Intriguing and Gripping Film, 7 February 2005 Author: (KM7909@insightbb.com) from United States
I am an American who thinks that all Americans should see this film. It was just shown on HBO On Demand and I accidentally ran across it on the listing and wonder what is was about. I see nothing offensive by anything in the movie. I don't see where you would necessarily sympathize with any of the terrorists. I don't believe that was the purpose of the film. I believe the purpose of the film was to show you how someone could easily be influenced and "brainwashed" in believing what apparently Ziad Jarrah chose to believe. (By the way, I though Karim Saleh's portrayal of Ziad was excellent).Look back at history - Jim Jones, David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, etc. - they were all brainwashing murderers and were very good at convincing people what to believe! If Americans were not offended by any of these individuals, then they shouldn't be offended by this movie.I do believe it was sad how Ziad, who at the beginning of the movie was just an ordinary young man and was so easily turned into a terrorist.The reason I say all Americans should see this movie is because I believe so many people are even beginning to forget 9/11. I don't - there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of what happened. I could never understand how someone could hate so much and were told that they would go to heaven by doing what they did. The movie made me understand how their minds work.I will probably purchase the movie and save it for my grandchildren. My youngest grandson was born on 9/11/01 and I have saved everything I can so he will one day understand the significance of his birthday.I give this movie, writers, producers and especially actors (since it must have been a hard role to portray) a "thumbs up". I hope other Americans watch this and can truly see what the film is all about - not sympathizing with the terrorist but giving a hard look into the terrorists' minds.This is just one American's view.
19 out of 25 people found the following review useful: Controversial and punishing, but also quite human and saddening, 19 October 2004 Author: Richard Brunton (imdb-update@brunton.org.uk) from Edinburgh, Scotland
There is no doubt about it, this is a controversial movie, and it took me a while to see it. Missing it at the Edinburgh Film Festival really got to me but I managed to see it just recently.I understand that it doesn't yet have a US\Canada release and although there have been talks, nothing has yet been signed up, and no wonder. The subject matter is focused on one of the hijackers of the September 11th Twin Towers attack. Yes. Very controversial and highly emotionally charged topic.The first thing I'd say about the movie is it is portrayed as an unbiased movie, however that isn't quite true but it's clear to see why. The movie solely rests with the hijackers and the lead up to those terrible events of September the 11th but doesn't concentrate on the events of that day, there are a few shots that remind you of the actual attack, but detail isn't entered into and I think that actually is a good thing.There's a lot of strong feeling about that day, and very rightly so, but in a movie which tries to take no sides, concentrating on the events would clearly fill any sane person with great sadness and a strong anger against the hijackers and the groups to which they belong.Okay, so let's put that part to the side and try and concentrate on the movie itself. Antonio Bird has carried through Ronan Bennett's story very well, documenting the process of the main character, Ziad Jarrah played by Karim Salah, transforming from a Western Muslim living the life of a typical student, to a Muslim extremist.Salah portrays the role excellently, carrying with total believability, the slow change. He starts as a typical student, interested in his own life and ignoring his initial upbringings looking at love and life as a Doctor. Slowly, he is indoctored into a group of Muslims, rediscovering his religion, and from there an extremist pulls him across to their cause and the change in the character is small but obvious. He becomes strong, self assured, and angry.This carries on for much of the movie, but when the realisations of what is happening and what he is committing to become more apparent, his love for his wife and their Western life come into contention.From the outset this movie shocks, and it does very well in showing what was behind one of the hijackers. What isn't so good is it doesn't quite hit the mark on this very change. I could see what changed him, and I could understand the peer and religious pressure around him (this is very eloquently shown in the movie) but you still find yourself asking why? A vital few steps are missing, and this may purely be down to the lack of historical information, or the complexity of the subject.Although an even more difficult subject, I felt the religious and Jihad side could be tackled more, but that might have made the film more inaccessible to the mainstream Western audience.In the end, the movie condemns what these people did with an extremely loud voice, but not from the extreme Western view that can often be heard today, but from the characters words and actions throughout their brief history. Indeed some of the victim support groups from that day have applauded the release of a film to understand the fundamentalist mindset.This movie is well worth watching, believe me when I say it isn't all from the side of the hijackers, and it does not attempt in the slightest to justify events, it is an attempt at understanding.
15 out of 19 people found the following review useful: Passed under the radar, 27 August 2004 Author: ginger_sonny from London, England
Understated docu-drama following the men who planned and carried out the attacks of 9/11 "When the world talks about the men who carried out this holy operation they will be talking about the men who changed the course of history," exclaims a senior Al Qaeda member in this fictional docu-drama from director Antonia Bird. Charting the planning and execution of the World Trade Center attacks by a handful of Muslim fundamentalists led by Mohamed Atta (Kamel), The Hamburg Cell is a devastatingly powerful work that puts faces and personalities to the men who carried out the attacks against the US on the fateful morning of September 11th. Based on a wide range of documentary evidence, from court transcriptions to video footage, this simmering yet understated little movie focuses on Lebanese student Ziad Jarrah (Saleh) as he's transformed from rich-boy student at the University of Applied Science in Hamburg to jihadist hijacker of United Airlines flight 93 (which crashed en route to the White House shortly after simultaneous attacks struck the Twin Towers and the Pentagon).It's a difficult journey. Immersing us in the secretive, clandestine world of these fundamentalists as they indoctrinate new recruits, train at terrorist camps in Afghanistan and learn to fly at an aviation school in Florida, Bird forces a disturbing intimacy with men destined to become mass murderers. To humanise the terrorists, The Hamburg Cell deliberately focuses on Jarrah, the weakest link of the group, whose reservations about the jihadist cause are eventually swept away. Rather than styling him as some victim of brainwashing, screenwriters Ronan Bennett and Alice Pearman delicately suggest the powerful lure of infatuation with a self-justifying cause while never losing sight of the fact that, for the hijackers, the jihad is not a first strike on America, but a counter strike in an anti-Muslim war that is being waged throughout Bosnia, Chechnya, Indonesia, Iraq and Palestine.Claustrophobically shot and making good use of CCTV and superimposed titles to give the sense of the covert nature of the cell's activities, Bird's film refuses to release us from our intimate experience of the jihadists' world. It's a strictly non-partisan film that adamantly refuses to moralise. That will undoubtedly cause significant controversy among those who would rather condemn these men as pure evil. Rather, what this intelligent drama asks us to do is recognise their motivation - not to judge them, but to address the injustices (in particular the Palestinian crisis) that drives such heinous and misguided actions. Verdict Bravely understated, The Hamburg Cell makes a bold attempt to humanise the terrorists behind the events of 9/11. Its studied detachment on such an emotive issue is impressive.
7 out of 12 people found the following review useful: Excellent chronicle, non-inflammatory except to the most extreme viewer, 28 August 2004 Author: Chris Docker (eyeforfilm) from Scotland, United Kingdom
Dramatisation by renowned filmmaker Antonia Bird of the characters and events involved in the 9/11 attacks. The approach is very laid back, is statedly on the basis of three years research and 'known facts and events.' so is something of a chronicle. It avoids demising the hijackers (so such a film could probably never have been made in America) and Bird points out that not only were they real people, intelligent people, who devoutly believed what they were doing was the right thing, but that it is important for us to understand that and the how and the why. We see the main character as a highly intelligent man, seeking to become a better person by becoming a better Muslim, and thence drawn into the training group. Other factors like the American influence in Palestine (central in most Middle-East Muslims' minds) are mentioned briefly, but the story develops in a natural way - a young man joining those prepared to fight for Islam and 'do something worthwhile'. He switches studies to go to flight school and has perfect skills at 'blending' with westerners. The film is unsensational, but without proselytising for either 'side' manages to at least shed some light on the hijackers motives and mentality.
8 out of 14 people found the following review useful: Matter of fact, documentary-style., 19 January 2005 Author: mrbiscuit from Los Angeles, CA
I like the fact that this film is non-Hollywood in it's delivery. It's unglamorous, but still quite sophisticated in capturing the monochromatic lives of the terrorists-to-be. It presents a concise timeline of events in a pointed and deliberate manner. It doesn't pretend to be absolute or correct, and it knows it's an estimation of how things might have went down.Inevitably, Hollywood will roll out its own 9/11 films and they will be glossy and full of big budget bloat, but this humble effort will remain as testament to the idea that a simple film can be as compelling and inviting to interpretation without the need for dramatic flair and elaborate crane rigs.
21 out of 40 people found the following review useful: Certainly Pointless, 3 September 2004 Author: Theo Robertson from Isle Of Bute, Scotland
Director Antonia Bird and scriptwriters Ronan Bennett and Alice Pearman have made this year's most controversial drama production which deals with the terrorists behind 9/11 . It's also the most pointless production of the year down to the fact that it's a work of fiction . Okay it's based on true events and characters but that doesn't mean there's any truth in the details . Take for example when terrorist to be Ziad Jarrah discusses Lebanon his country of birth to a Jihadist . The Jihadist mentions the atrocities carried out by Christian phalangists at the Shatilla and Shebron Palestinian refugee camps in Southern Lebanon in September 1982 which seems to motivate Ziad . But ask yourself this . Why would a Muslim be motivated to become a terrorist through this conversation ? These Christian phalangists were under the command of the Lebanese Christian government at the time , while the civilians they murdered were vaguely associated with relatives who were in the PLO , a secular Marxist Leninist organization . Christians murdering atheists , now why would that stir Muslim feelings of revenge ? We also have no proof this discussion took place and is almost certainly an invention on the part of the scriptwriters I do feel there is an agenda with this movie as portraying the hi-jackers as too human , as if they were victims of indoctrination misguided by more extreme world jihadists who were using them as pawns and that they weren't fundamentally cruel . There's a point where this view should be allowed but THE HAMBURG CELL over steps the mark . Take the scene where the terrorists are being shown physical methods on taking over the jets . " Surprise is your greatest weapon " says one of the instructors as he grapples with a volunteer showing him restraining methods . From what we know of the hijackings themselves surprise wasn't the greatest weapon - Sticking knives through the eyes and throats of the cabin crew were , not unarmed combat . Shock and horror was used to intimidate the passengers , not surprise . Trying to tell me someone capable of stabbing a air stewardess to death is misguided ? That they never had the potential to become a cold blooded murderer all along ?As stated there's no scenes of the terrorists murdering anyone ( The footage of the twin towers negates to show the shocking scenes of people trapped jumping hundreds of feet to their death ) but shows Bosnian muslims with their heads and limbs blown off . The Balkans conflict was terrible especially for the muslims living there . Perhaps I should point out if it wasn't for NATO intervention in Bosnia in 1995 and Kosovo in 1999 there would have been few if any muslims left in the Balkans today . What country leads NATO ? The same one that suffered on 9/11 There are a few positive points to THE HAMBURG CELL . One is that the script via one of Ziad's relatives points out that these Islamic terrorists are corrupting the words of Allah , but I feel this is down to political correctness where the producers don't want to be accused of showing all muslims as terrorists . It's also Antonia Bird's best film as director which considering her volume of work is only a backhanded compliment . I will also give faint praise to the script for pointing out that Osama Bin Laden was behind the atrocity . Even today some people deny he had any involvement despite all the evidence I'm sorry if this review isn't as complex as it should have been . I had planned to make it very analytical but I'm not really in the mood since I spent the afternoon seeing a real life horror show coming out of a school in Southern Russia where as many as several hundred schoolchildren have been murdered or mutilated by terrorists . The only happy story I have heard today is that some of the fleeing terrorists were beaten to death by Russian mobs . I'm not proud of these feelings
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: A chilling account at the circumstances that led to the most horrific act of terrorism in this century., 17 June 2007 Author: Dalazen_Junior (dalazen@fortalnet.com.br) from Fortaleza, CE Brazil
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
This chilling account on the men who carried out the 9/11 attacks is a poignant, harrowing look at the events prior to the most barbaric act of terrorism in United States soil. Director Antonia Bird bravely conducts this film as a docudrama, not taking sides and showing the terrorists as human beings who strongly believed in what they were up to carry on. By following Ziad Jarrah's later years, Bird shows us how it was easy for radical Islamic fundamentalists to brainwash a weak, vulnerable young boy and turn him into a war machine capable of piloting a 747 that was to crash on the capitol. The scary anger the most radical Islamics have towards the United States is shown early on, and The Hamburg Cell will surely upset a lot of people, since it proves clearly that months, even years prior to 9/11 it was well-known fact for the CIA that Al Qaeda had plans for terrorist attacks on American soil and these attacks would be carried on through hijacked commercial airlines.Scarier than the attack itself is how Bird portrays the transformation that goes on with Ziad Jarrah,a good-looking boy coming from a traditional rich Lebanese family who came to Hamburg, Germany,to study, circa 1996, and how he fell under the spell of radical Islamics that already through the early nineties had plans for a major strike against the Ocidental World.The acting is great: Karim Sallah shows so much just with his troubled eyes!you see the inner turmoil happening inside his soul as he is put upon a terrible task and must choose between what he believes as right (giving his life in the name of Islamic cause) and a life of happiness with the woman he loves, Aysel.Director Antonia Bird has great sense of atmosphere, and although The Hamburg Cell revolves around the events prior to 9/11, it is a tense, nerve-wrecking countdown journey that will leave you breathless. The film culminates on a hair-raising sequence that is scarier than any horror movie,as the Hamburg terrorists makes their way to the respective airports, a moment carried with a sense of dread and death punctuated by a thrilling soundtrack that evokes what it must have been to the terrorists and the innocent passengers that fateful morning. The last image is a haunting look at how little we know about the people surrounding us, as a terrified Aysel watches through TV, along with the rest of the world, the day that we definitely entered in a era of horror and uncertainty, not knowing yet that the man she believed she knew was one of the people behind this holocaust of deaths and suffering. Ziad Jarrah was the pilot aboard United 93, the flight that didn't reach its target. It was the last plane supposed to be thrown against its target (the Capitol). As the world watched the towers and the Pentagon burning, United 93 was still on the air. However, when passengers phoned their loved ones and were informed about the events on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, they realized that if they didn't take matters on their own hands, they were going to be killed. So, the passengers got together and stood up against the terrorists. Fight ensued on board, and although not taking over the control of the plane, the brave passengers fought bravely the terrorists and stopped them reaching the Capitol. The plane crashed in the woods near Shanksville.This event is masterfully, beautifully shown in Paul Greengrass's United 93. Jarrah wrote a day prior to the flight a letter destined to Aysel, latter intercepted by the FBI, in which he clearly said good bye to her. Although Jarrah's family latter claimed that they were sure that their son was just a passenger and never a terrorist aboard the fateful flight, investigations proved undoubtedly that Ziad was the pilot of United 93 and one of the Hamburg Cell members. This film is a though-provoking, harrowing account on the scariest terrorist attack ever, and the last scene, Ziad Jarrah walking through the white corridors to the plane, will forever live as one of the most chilling movie moments ever.Also recommended: United 93, The Path to 9/11, Inside the Twin Towers.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: still left questions, 24 November 2006 Author: wrlang from United States
The Hamburg Cell is a docudrama about the cell of Muslim fundamentalists that conducted the 9/11 attack. It starts about 5 years before 9/11 and follows many of the pilots in their efforts to get flight training and covers what was going on in some of their private lives. Not sure how much of it was accurate, seemed pretty realistic to me. Most seemed to just be looking for some fulfillment in their lives, but chose an extreme way to get it. It also shows the missteps, in hindsight, by US law enforcement agencies as these people could have been caught many times during their training. I don't think it really explained the reasons the terrorists chose to conduct their attack, but I guess we will never really know all the facts behind it. Technically a good film with few continuity errors and some good cinematography. The acting seemed a little hollow.
5 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Well-Directed, But Unclear, 11 January 2005 Author: duibe
As I began watching this film on HBO, I started to feel uneasy because all the trademarks of a TV Movie-of-the-week began to manifest- boring cinematography, unrefined performances, contrived momentum, etc. However, as the film progressed, I was drawn into certain story angles, and the plight of some of the lead characters became engrossing. Kamel's understated performance as Atta, as well as the two young leads playing husband and wife, kept me interested. The film gradually grinded into thriller territory, and the final moments were admittedly chilling and well-constructed by director Antonia Bird. However, what was most lacking from this film were the PSYCHOLOGICAL motivations of the characters. A story of such grand scope is difficult to tell in detail, as one can assume, but the most important elements driving these characters- the disgust and anger towards American foreign policy- seemed left out of this film. It seemed "hinted at" in certain scenes, but the screenplay never fully explored the burning hatred from the inside. It was still unclear to me why the once-agnostic Lebanese medical student allowed himself to be so easily roped in by the cell's extremist philosophies. Had the screenplay explored this in more detail, this film would be what it should have been- a tragic portrait of manifested hatred among young, misguided Islamic jihadists.
Add another review
