What high-quality films, including documentaries, exist that humanize
the victims of terrorism or undermine the legitimacy of terrorism in
another way?

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 25 Apr 2006 17:24 PDT

United93 is out:

http://www.united93movie.com/index.php

Is that the sort of thing you have in mind?


pafalafa-ga

---

Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 26 Apr 2006 00:26 PDT

Hello nicoler12345-ga,

Most films about terrorism take the side of the victim and explicitly
or implicitly show the terrorists as bad guys. Are these the kinds of
films you're lookig for? How many films would make for a satisfactory
answer?

http://www.moviemail-online.co.uk/scripts/collection.pl?ID=39
Films About Terrorism Collection

I look forward to your clarification.

~ czh ~

---

Clarification of Question by nicoler12345-ga on 26 Apr 2006 19:11 PDT

pafalafa-ga and czh-ga,

Thank you for your queries.  A movie that is exactly along the lines
of what I am looking for is "Children of Beslan," a documentary that I
believe was nominated for an award and tells the story of the
terrorist attacks against the school in Beslan, Russia, through the
eyes of the children present at the time.  It is very moving.

The audience for these films would be Middle Eastern; the objective to
undermine the legitimacy of terrorism.

Any number of films would do.  I'm more interested in quality then quantity.

Many thanks.
Nicole

Nicole,

Thanks for getting back to us.

Here are the movies that I found during my searching that seem to best
meet your criteria -- high-quality productions that treat the
terrorists pretty unambiguously as the bad guys whose actions are
without legitimacy.  The films cover a variety of genres, and focus on
numerous terrorist groups and incidents, both real and fictional:



United 93 (2006)
http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0475276/



The Flight That Fought Back (2005) (TV)
http://dick.imdb.com/title/tt0470764/


The Poseidon Adventure (2005) (TV) 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419358/


4 Little Girls (1997) 
http://13thfloor.imdb.com/title/tt0118540/


Octobre (1994)
http://university.imdb.com/title/tt0110709/
 

The Crying Game (1992) 
http://jcpenney.imdb.com/title/tt0104036/


Collateral Damage (2002)
http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0233469/



Die Hard 4.0 (2006)
http://gist.imdb.com/title/tt0337978/


Arlington Road (1999) 
http://hungarian.imdb.com/title/tt0137363/


Face of Terror (2003)
http://excite.imdb.com/title/tt0328993/


The Fourth Angel (2001) 
http://menace.imdb.com/title/tt0254334/


Air Force One (1997) 
http://polish.imdb.com/title/tt0164184/



Black Sunday (1977) 
http://dick.imdb.com/title/tt0075765/


Counterstrike (2003) (TV) 
http://messenger.imdb.com/title/tt0281618/


Passenger 57 (1992) 
http://arlington.imdb.com/title/tt0105104/


The Hamburg Cell (2004) (TV) 
http://dick.imdb.com/title/tt0398093/


Die Hard (1988) 
http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/


The Grid" (2004)
http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0389635/


The Boxer (1997) 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118760/


"Sleeper Cell" (2005) [TV-Series] 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465353/


Children of Beslan (2005) (TV) 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480753/


The Beslan Siege (2005) (TV) 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0487077/


Coca: Die Taube von Tschetschenien (2005) 
Coca: The Dove from Chechnya
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455927/


Terror in Moscow (2003) (TV)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0383669/


The Sum of All Fears (2002) 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164184/



I trust this list fully meets your needs, but if there's anything more
I can do for you, just let me know, and I'm at your service.


pafalafa-ga


search strategy -- Google searches on:


"plot outline ******* terrorist OR terrorists OR terrorism OR meinhof"
 inurl:imdb inurl:title


"plot outline ******* 9/11"  inurl:imdb inurl:title

Thank you very much for your research.  I intend to watch several of
these movies in order to make sure they suit my purpose 100%.  Really
appreciate your help!

The Showtime miniseries "Sleeper Cell" did a remarkable job of
undermining the legitimacy of terrorism and humanizing the victims.
And the show didn't demonize all Muslims: the main "good guy" is a
devout Muslim.

Pinkfreud,

I really appreciate your comment.  It is exactly what I needed to know
about the series and gives me the impression that it may be very
useful to me.

Many thanks.
Nicole

The good news is that Showtime's "Sleeper Cell" has been renewed for a
second season.  It is believed to be the first series in television
history to have an American Muslim as its hero.  It very definitely
deals  the human side of terrorists.

If you'd like to see clips from the series, as well as interviews with
the creators and cast of "Sleeper Cell," plus the series' Arabic
technical advisor and consultant,  you can watch them for free online.

Go to http://www.sho.com/site/sleepercell/bts.do

Click on the icon for "Sleeper Cell: Know Your Enemy -- Extended
segment.," which is a program I wrote & produced.  You can also see a
shorter, 3-minute piece. Click on "Sleeper Cell: The Enemy is Here."

Working on these pieces really helped ME to understand terrorism a lot
better, so maybe it will for you as well.