As I began watching this film on HBO, I started to feel uneasy because all the trademarks of a TV Movie-of-the-week began to manifest- boring cinematography, unrefined performances, contrived momentum, etc. However, as the film progressed, I was drawn into certain story angles, and the plight of some of the lead characters became engrossing. Kamel's understated performance as Atta, as well as the two young leads playing husband and wife, kept me interested. The film gradually grinded into thriller territory, and the final moments were admittedly chilling and well-constructed by director Antonia Bird. However, what was most lacking from this film were the PSYCHOLOGICAL motivations of the characters. A story of such grand scope is difficult to tell in detail, as one can assume, but the most important elements driving these characters- the disgust and anger towards American foreign policy- seemed left out of this film. It seemed "hinted at" in certain scenes, but the screenplay never fully explored the burning hatred from the inside. It was still unclear to me why the once-agnostic Lebanese medical student allowed himself to be so easily roped in by the cell's extremist philosophies. Had the screenplay explored this in more detail, this film would be what it should have been- a tragic portrait of manifested hatred among young, misguided Islamic jihadists.
