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The War Within by Joseph Castelo
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DVD detailsActor: Ayad Akhtar, Charles Daniel Sandoval, Firdous Bamji, Nandana Sen, Sarita Choudhury Director: Joseph Castelo Brand: Magnolia Films Writer: Ayad Akhtar Writer: Joseph Castelo Producer: Gretchen McGowan Producer: Jason Kliot Producer: Joana Vicente Producer: Mark Cuban Writer: Tom Glynn DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language) Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.78:1 Running Time: 90 minutes DVD Release Date: 2006-01-31 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Model: 10003 Studio: Magnolia
DVD Reviews of The War WithinDVD Review: A Riveting Exploration of the Soul of a Terrorist Summary: 5 Stars
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.
More The War Within reviews: 1 2 3 4
Description of The War WithinA Pakistani suicide bomber travels to New York City to join his cell with plans to begin the ground war in the United States. What unfolds is a profound human and political drama as we explore his motives as he struggles to carry out his mission.
System Requirements: Features: - Deleted Scenes
- Audio commentary
- Interview(s)
Running Time: 93 Min
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