Of fathers and sons. Los hijos de la Yihad

In the post-9/11 world that we all live in, there is a lot of talk thrown around about jihadism. Some of it in historical context, some of it in war-mongering context, and pretty much everything in between. However, one thing that rarely (if ever) gets scene is the day-to-day life activities of people who consider themselves to be jihadists. That is what documentarian Talal Derki accomplishes, somewhat remarkably, in "Of Fathers and Sons".

The setup to this documentary is that Derki returns to his homeland of Syria (where he was born) under the pretense of being a "war photojournalist" and is harbored by Abu Osama and his family. In reality, though, his goal is to film this subversive doc and give viewers a portrait of jihadist life in Syria.

Besides opening and closing narrations, this entire film is presented essentially "without comment". The camera never turns back to Derki or includes any sort of monologue or opinion on the matters at hand. That is completely left up to the viewer, and in this case there is much to think about.

On one hand, it is easy to see why this type of lifestyle could be considered "backwards" or misconstrued into hatred. Abu names his son Osama in honor of the 9/11 attacks, an immediate window into the Osama family outlook. One's entire lifespan seems to be devoted to a war cause, women are nonexistent at best and heavily persecuted at worst, while the children are raised in an environment of constant bullying and physical confrontation. One gets the sense that these people are sort of "brainwashed into their cause" with no hope for peace even existing.

But then, there is the more human side of things portrayed just as stark. Despite harboring ideologies that are likely extremely different (if not usually outright offensive) to most Americans, Abu clearly loves his children and they him. After experiencing one instance of severe physical hardship, Abu comforts his children as they weep for him. His two oldest sons eventually are sent off to a military camp, and I challenge any viewer not to feel at least something as they cry themselves to sleep at night.

In the end, I think the hallmark of "Of Fathers and Sons" is the humanizing effect it has on jihadists. Am I completely sympathetic to their cause? Absolutely not. However, inside access like this does indeed show them to be individuals capable of love and emotion. I would argue they are extremely misguided in many key ways, but yet still human down at their base level.

So often, America/Islam relations are all about "us vs. them", and often for good reason (wars have been perpetuated by both sides of that coin). What Derki shows here, though, is that it truly is only political/theological ideology that separates "us from them". Strip down the layers to the barest human selves, and you'll find yourself caring for their plight (self-inflicted as it may be) perhaps more than you ever realized.

Talal Derki leaves his family in Berlin and returns to where he grew up in Norther Syria to spend two years amongst Salafist-jihadists & Al-Nusra Front (aka al-Qaeda in Syria) filming their fight against the Syrian Assad government. Their cry, "God's mission, jihad, the caliphate!" "We continue to spread the true faith around the world." In the doc the village we see was once Sufi (pacifist Muslims); now there are no more Sufis. The al-Nusra dream is to witness the full glory of Islam. Tracing their history to the wars in Afghanistan, "When American troops entered Afghanistan ... God almighty had promised us victory ... the American troops were humiliated & retreated because of the Mujahideen". We see little warfare outside of a few Russian bombs being dropped, rather the main focus of this doc is how a jihadist father prepares his eight sons (from two wives; none older than about 14; given that a man's worth is in sons I wonder if no female children is the result of infanticide) to continue to fight by sending two of the oldest to a military & Sharia caliphate training camp for young boys. Being trained to follow al-Qaeda defending Muslims in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Burma, India, Syria. Commonly, they form different coalitions w/other fighters to further their agenda using Afghanistan as a model. "Tomorrow we fight and kill under God's flag (the jihadists black banner) ... the enemies of God." Side note: As to the status of women none were seen, and it was mentioned that if any males saw a female (no matter how young) outside their house they would first be disapprovingly glared at. Likely worse would follow.

I watched this film in the Pune International film Festival 2019 with a group of 16 students. And everyone was just blow away after watching it.

There are many reasons for it but the foremost reason is the sheer honesty with which it is made. The director Talal just put the facts in front of the audience without taking any sides. He has painstakingly lived with an ISIS supporter & his family for two years and shown their life as it is. He is neither criticizing anyone nor praising anyone. And it leads us sympathizing with an ISIS supporter and their family. This sympathy doesn't mean we supporting ISIS & it's supporters but instead we feel sorry for them.

The film presents the naked face of any extremist movement. But at the same time it shows the movements' supporter as normal human being who are as mortal as anyone else.

And to me that is the victory of this film.

Islam had been compromised. Am afriad this war is never gonna be over.

An unbiased, unprejudiced & unfiltered observation of jihadist life and how extremist ideology is passed down through generations, Of Fathers and Sons paints a brutally honest & unflinching portrait of children being brainwashed into following the path of hatred & violence by their own fathers, and it does so by capturing the everyday life of a radical Islamist family.

An undiluted portrayal of inherited Islamist fervour, the documentary achieves a rare first-hand access by thoroughly observing religious fundamentalism from up close & with an uncompromising lens. Although it focuses on jihadist fanaticism in Syria, the mechanics of it can be applied to any extremist movement out there, for the cycle of hatred, prejudice & violence always starts at home first before surfacing elsewhere.

As admirable as it is unshakeable, Of Fathers and Sons is essential viewing.