Warsaw Film Festival was the first to screen this unbelievable true story of Blerim Skoro, a veteran of the war in Bosnia, and a convicted drug dealer in the USA, who risked everything to keep America safe by infiltrating ISIS at the request of the CIA. Award winning director Anthony Wonke keeps the focus on Skoro's devoted American wife and children as he allows Skoro to tell his tale of bravery and desertion by the American government after 12 long years of exile in the Middle East.
Skoro is at times calm, happy, stoic and gentle as he recollects coming to America, meeting his Albanian American wife and struggling to support his extended family back home. He is only emotional when he recounts his sorrow at making bad choices which hurt his wife and children. He is a military man who exhibits the ability to handle danger and think on his feet. The director said it best at the Q and A after the first screening. " This is not James Bond or Jason Bourne, but a flawed man" who had to infiltrate one of the deadliest groups and control his emotions in order to survive and achieve his main goal of coming back to America.
If hanging with a terrorist group is not bad enough, Skoro is threatened with exposure and then almost killed as he walks in a parking garage to meet a contact. Skoro calls for help and instead he is unceremoniously abandoned. This is where the story goes off the rails and in true Jason Bourne fashion Skoro realizes that he must find his own way back.
And if he gets there, will they jail or deport him as a terrorist?
The twists and turns of this tale is worth a dramatic treatment, but in the meantime, this heartfelt saga of a man who remained devoted to his American dream is affectionately recounted by his wife, two daughters and Skoro himself, as they struggle to protect him from certain harm without the slightest tinge of resentment. It is skillfully produced by Johnny Haworth, Ivan Mactaggert, and I am sure there will be no trouble finding distribution for this team. The narrative is seamless, thanks to meticulous editing by Stephan Ellis.
