Director(s)
Dethlev Cordts Nicola von Oppel
Starring
N/A
Language(s)
German, English
Released
January 14, 2006
Genre
Foreign, Documentary, Action & Adventure
Run Time
52 minutes
Rating
PG-13
Description
Why do Islamic terrorists kill themselves and other people? Film-maker Dirk Laabs researched this question for more than a year, asking experts and dropouts from the Islamist scene all over the world: Who and what makes these men into murderers? The answer is irksome: These Islamic extremists are not born terrorists; they are neither deranged nor are they monsters. Often they are not much different than their victims. They were often looking for a new life,
...morefor new friends and found the faith that insidiously changed them. The men were changed and made into murderers by sophisticated propaganda. Laabs explicitly attempts to comprehend the transformation of the assassins of September 11th, describing Mohammed Atta's childhood in Cairo and the time he spent in Hamburg. He shows excerpts from al-Qaida videos, proving which massive propaganda Atta and his friends were subjected to. And for the first time he shows the Imam's sermons, which essentially made Atta and the others become more and more radical. This process was not something unique: The film shows, that the assassins from Leeds underwent essentially the same process of becoming as radical as Atta. Up to today this is a process which functions all over the world, which is what makes it so incredibly dangerous. For his film Laabs shot footage in Egypt, Israel, Yemen, Morocco, Germany, the Netherlands and England. ...hide