User reviews

Okay perhaps something of a wake-up call is needed for the people who wrote the scathing entirely undeserved one-star reviews of this show, out of, it would seem, hatred for any attempt to show sympathy for the characters portrayed here - I will take something of a more pragmatic approach to the material.

Jumping straight in at the deep end 'The State' introduces us to four young characters as they travel from the west to Syria, each with their own delusions about what it will mean to join Islamic State and build the new state of Syria. There's young Doctor and single Mother, Shakira (Ony Uhiara - brilliant) Jalal (Sam Otto - outstanding) whose brother joined prior to him and was killed in action, who wants to fight the enemy along with his childhood friend Ziyaad (Ryan McKen) and finally Ushna (an excellent debut from Shavani Cameron)who hopes to be a 'lioness among lions' but still hates to use a shared toilet. So it is on the front lines of the fighting in Syria that these four characters find themselves. The women are taken to the female compound run by the pious hands of westerner Umm Walid (Jessica Gunning, suitably patronising in the role) While the men are trained to kill and assigned combat duty, meeting other westerners who have come to join the fight. So it is that we follow the course of their lives and the people they meet over a few short weeks.

I find comments elsewhere about this shows attempts to sympathise with these young people rather vacuous and missing the point of the show entirely - There is little sympathy to be found for our leading protagonists here. We do not, for one thing, know why they came to join with perhaps the exception of Jalal. An advert for recruitment to ISIS, this show IS NOT. The threat of rape for the female characters is constant throughout the story while the men are sent into near suicide combat missions, being told a glorious death awaits them. This is a story about four people who were naively drawn into a cause, the reality of which they didn't fully comprehend until they were standing in the middle of it. Where the show is it's strongest is with the Shakira / Jalal story lines and this is as much down to the performance by the actors, as it is about the script. Casting Director Nina Gold has assembled an impressive and convincing cast here, with the stand out performance being that of Sam Otto. His inner conflict and doubt is precisely stated with just the odd look and glance, while Ony Uhiara, as the Doctor who finds she is increasingly marginalised realises her son is being turned into a killer before her very eyes, plays her growing doubt with great conviction. Special mention here must also go to child actor Nana Agyeman-Bediako who is fantastic as her son. A number of the supporting cast are extremely good as well, having cast a number of people who speak perfect Arabic. Karim Kassem is especially good as the local ISIS leader, who haunts Shakira's every move while Jack Greenless stands out as an ex-western soldier in a very under written role. Haaz Sleiman, Fayez Bakhsh and Hiam Abbass all make their mark in the story and deserve a mention.

What 'The State' does, is Humanise the characters it portrays. We can probably all remember a time once where some of us were naively influenced by a political movement at the time, be that CND or protesting against perfume being used on monkeys. This is a story about that time in our youth, where we were impressionable, we could make a mistake and suddenly we find ourselves growing up very fast. The experience these people went through felt authentic and that is important because nothing shown here would in my view ever encourage a person to take the same journey. Schools would do well to show this series to their students.

For me, there was one thing that was missing from the show. I felt it would have benefited from another episode prior to episode one which demonstrated how each person was drawn into this cause. The producers felt it was enough to show that they are, which is, of course, the reality but f we don't understand what draws people to a cause like this, how are we ever going to understand it?

Those who low rated this TV series and called it preposterous, alleging that intelligent people who have heard about ISIS crimes via the media would not naively go to Syria to join the Jihad, completely missed the point, which is that people believe what they want to believe and shut out anything which does not fit their belief. If this was not so, there would be no major religions and no one would smoke cigarettes or drive drunk.

Who in their right mind would believe in a heaven somewhere up in the clouds with pearly gates guarded by golden haired angels, or that a destructive evil named Satan ruled over an everlasting fiery pit. There are those in the Southern US who firmly believe that the Bible was written in English by Jesus Christ, and that Jesus was a blue eyed Anglo Saxon. If people can believe that the world was created in six days 6,000 years ago, that a savior was born to a virgin and after his death he rose again for 40 days, despite all the evidence to the contrary, they will believe anything.

Many otherwise intelligent people firmly believe in the lost continent of Atlantis, others that all the ancient ruins such as the pyramids and the temples of Central America were built by aliens as if ancient humans were not able to work things out for themselves. It is the same with those who run off to join the Jihad. Some are impressionable youths, but as in the case of Shakira, others might actually believe they are going to do good. They have closed their minds to whatever challenges their belief or brainwashing. Just as we had fanatical religious martyrs in the past dying for their faith, we now have martyrs dying for the Islamic faith. The fanatical Christians were created saints and venerated for their beliefs, so were hermits, monks and nuns who lived in severe hardship and discomfort and spent their days praying.

I did find some of the characters acted stupidly, but had they not been a little on the naive side they would never have gone to Syria in the first place. I certainly did not find the series a recruitment tool for ISIS as some viewers and reviewers seemed to. More like Reefer Madness being a considered a deterrent for marijuana use.

I am amazed at the scathing reviews of 'The State'.

Trust me, as a man who has been on the front lines against daesh in Iraq, this is worth the watch. I think this show did an amazing job of showing the realities of living under a daesh state of power. All while doing it without crossing the line and keeping it clean enough for a younger audience. As someone who has actually been there, it is mind-blowing to me that this show is portrayed by other reviewers as wishing to be sympathetic to the recruits. It shows the brutal reality which those in areas under daesh rule face.

This show does an amazing job of captivating while educating on the beliefs of daesh and their twisted views of Islam. I am very disappointed in seeing how the masses received this show and hope it doesn't lead to Nat Geo closing the books permanently on the mini-series.

Story of 4 Brits going out to Syria to support IS state in the overthrow of the Syrian regime. As the majority of British Moslems are Sunni and IS state supports the Sunni Muslims against the Shia followers, it doesn't take much effort for Sunni Muslims in Britain to go and support their fellow believers in Syria. The series pulls no punches of the brutality of the IS State and shows where it ignores the teachings of Mohammed "for their own ends" thereby corrupting the teachings of Islam. You can see how the four Brits start to slowly realize that the teachings of Islam is not really the main force of the IS leadership, they are looking for power and control and are just using the teachings of Mohammed, to lure the stupid and vulnerable, for their own ends. It shows how decent people are used, against their wishes to be humane, because of a corrupt ideology.

Reading some reviews of The State, it seems some have completely missed the point of this mini-series. Far from glamourising IS this excellent series lays bare the lie that is at the heart of the death cult of Daesh. That lie draws impressionable, idealistic young Muslims across the west into a situation way out of their depth. Some argue that all who join IS know exactly what they are doing, which seems to leave some viewers unable to find anything sympathetic about the four young Brits portrayed here. Frankly, being unable to experience empathy for these characters says more about the person reviewing than it does about the situation itself.

Far from idealising and glamourising IS this remarkable mini-series shows the brutality and evil at the heart of it in a way nothing else I've seen quite does. Several scenes are incredibly difficult to watch, clearly intentionally so, and I found the changes of focus from the young jihadis experiencing the terror of battle and the brutalisation of witnessing torture, to the stories of the women and children equally brutalised and adapting (or not) to an almost alien culture, incredibly compelling.

This was brave television and for the most part well done. I feel it would have benefited from more time given to the ending, as this felt rushed and uncertain, but otherwise an excellent and compelling story.

The premise is simple so I will skip that. The Muslim Jihad is a call to arms for all Muslims regardless of one's life in the false world. Those who have been called are fed propaganda by the previous waves of fighters who answered the call to jihad.

We learn that each person truly wants and believes in their faith. They each want to believe in the struggle and participate in their own way. We also learn that the Mujahadeen or soldiers know this is a losing battle. For them it is a path to shaheed or martyrdom. This is the ultimate gift from God.

But what each person thought they were seeking in their faith or even their own personal lives cannot be had in the caliphe or Islamic State. Each person has a different challenge that defies the teachings of the hadith or prophet.

They each learn that it isn't the lies but the truth that scares them.

Stop! Don't believe the one star reviews.

As a conservative, I too had a negative reaction to just seeing the promotional material advertising this TV Series. Mainly because I expected your usual left-wing propaganda from liberal cabal that is running the entertainment industry, hammered into my brain. Or worse, glamorizing Jihadis much like Rolling Stone did with Tsarnaev Brothers.

But I assure it is not so. I have no idea who this Peter Kosminsky is, but he did a great job of bringing the story of five British would be Jihadis going to Syria, and their travails as they battle the Kurds, Assad's Army, Western backed coalition... But mostly battle with their own doubts.

The State shows in vivid terms what was happening in parts of Syria ISIS controlled during their heyday from early 2014 to late 2017.

The State is a fascinating insight for someone like me, a citizen of the West, who was affected by it during that time period. To see all those young men and women running off to join these cruel butchers, after we threw open the doors for their parents and gave them a chance at a better life in the West...

It deeply changed me who I am as a person. From a young, left-wing liberal secular progressive I used to be during 2000s, to a right-wing conservative Atheist considering conversion to Christianity or Judaism I am today.

After only half of first episode I was immersed into it. All along, I was expecting to be suddenly disrespected, or have my intelligence insulted by bankrupt liberal ideology, but... It didn't come.

Kosminsky just told a good story. Left it to us to be the judges. Which is what a good artists should be doing. Otherwise they are not artists. They are propagandists. Did he do that because he is aware of a deep cultural shift undergoing in the Western world (trust me, I wasn't the only one who was "Red Pilled" by ISIS), or because he just happens to be a good director, it doesn't matter.

What matters is that the first 4 episodes are among the greatest I've seen in British television. The liberals might be crying how there should have been another episode explaining the motivation behind joining ISIS, presumably so the filmmakers could blame the West...

But I'm glad they didn't do it. We don't care. We are sick and tired of excuses and blame. We are furious. And I'm glad that at least for the first 4 episodes we weren't made fools of.

We don't care about "why". We care about "because". The reasons they joined ISIS? It is BECAUSE they are Muslim. Looking for a way into paradise. If not in this life then in the afterlife.

It is an immersive, vivid portrayal of people caught up in the events in Syria. Some of whom would kill us if they had the chance. Following them along their journey is a deeply moving TV watching experience. So do yourself a favour and see this show.

Sooner or later, there will be yet another Islamic State of This and That, somewhere in the Muslim World. And there will be more young Muslims joining them in droves... But hopefully some of them will see this show and think twice what they are doing.

I am so amazed with this amount of details from a show portraying lives in ISIS. Personally I have been to the Middle East several times and spent months traveling along, I truly am impressed of the detail and some cultural differences displayed.

The ISIS has been marked as evil from all over the news worldwide, however, this show provides a fresh eye simply telling stories on each character's angle. People do need to understand, despite general impression ISIS is bad, every single person living the lives has their story to tell, I like how it is staying out of accusation but simply display some doubts ISIS caused on ppl. A show is a show, and it is a great show and the plots are so delicate and neatly illustrated. If all you want is political accusation, then you should only read what news is feeding you and write your comments on forums instead of a TV series review.

I was looking forward to this. World headlines over the last few years have catalogued the continuing terrorist atrocities of Daesh (ISIS) against the West but how much does the average Westerner understand the Hell on Earth created by ISIS in their self styled Caliphate where at one point 8 million human beings lived under their theocratic jackboot . ISIS portrayed themselves as heroic defenders of the Sunni faith and with the Shia majority in Iraq and Shia minority in Syria making things difficult for the average Sunni in these two countries ISIS was quickly seen as Sunni saviours hence innocent men , women and their children flocked to this new found society. Very quickly the inhabitants found out that while they weren't going to be tortured and murdered for being Sunnis they could be tortured and murdered for countless other reasons such as smoking cigarettes or rejecting forced marriage

If nothing else I had hoped THE STATE would show this misery to a wider audience but my heart started sinking that it was written and directed by Peter Kosminsky , a writer/director of social issues and current affairs I once had a lot of respect for but who blew it by making a "Based on a true story" drama called NO CHILD OF MINE. As it turned out the "truth" involved a composite character whose ordeal of child sex abuse was on a constant daily basis by literally every adult she knew and it quickly stopped becoming real in any way and was pulled by several regional broadcasters at the last moment . This obscene sensationalism might have destroyed other film makers careers but since Kosminsky is the type of broadcaster lauded by the Islington dinner party mob it didn't hurt his career in the slightest, Nevertheless I gave THE STATE a chance because I have visited the Middle East a couple of times and you can't give a dog like ISIS a bad enough name but even so I wasn't expecting much

As it turned out THE STATE didn't even meet my low expectations. It's produced as a "disillusionment drama" but does not work on any dramatic or factually logical level . Set in 2015 a handful of Brits head to Syria to live in the caliphate. Let's think about this for a moment . In 2015 the ISIS stronghold had been established for a year and daily horror stories had made world headlines , not least aid workers , journalists and prisoners of war being beheaded . It seems these thinly written cyphers must be the only people in the Universe who are unaware of the barbarity of ISIS. Oh and one of these idealists off to fight for ISIS just happens to be a white former squaddie from Scotland. As one of the characters points out "He might be a spy" and this is why ISIS wouldn't be accepting Western former soldiers with combat experience , though of course the Kurds of the YPG and Peshmerga would accept him . Indeed several hundred brave and noble Westerners , some with military experience , some without have fought in the various Kurdish militias and some of them have paid the ultimate price for their courage in fighting for radical democracy in a region of the World needing democratic values

Kosminsky claims he went to extensive lengths in interviewing former ISIS fighters. I don't doubt he did but you have to ask yourself if a former Jihadist is capable of telling the truth. Put it this way - if you've spent a couple of years breaking every international military and humanitarian law and are now in a jail somewhere are you really going to tell the truth that you've been raping kids and murdering civilians ? The induction for ISIS 2014-17 involves the mass murder of captured prisoners , a fact easily researchable via Google. This fact isn't propaganda. To watch THE STATE you'd think these Jihadists naively joined Daesh in the same way someone naively volunteered to operate the gas chambers at Nazi death camps , and like Nuremberg no one denied that genocide and mass atrocities had taken place "but I personally wasn't responsible for any of that" Yeah right

As I write this in the late Summer of 2017 the self styled caliphate of ISIS is about to become extinct and consigned to history. Hopefully the career of Peter Kosminsky in about to follow suit and if you want to educate yourself on the horrors of theocracy please read up on it via the countless articles and books on the subject and give this ridiculous so called drama a miss

So on one channel I'm watching the news, seeing chaos and death on the streets of some of the most beautiful cities on the planet and it breaks my heart.

I then turn the channel over to find a show which almost glorifies these acts of violence and tries to make us feel pity for the sheep who travel land and sea to join their evil world and it disgusts me.

I decided to finish the series, and where I appreciate the characters (and actors) I just couldn't relate or connect to the overall point in the show.

To conclude, it shocks me that this drama was created when there are currently people all over the world being selflessly murdered by this organisation.

An excellent series that shows a good preliminary work of investigation in order to make it as realistic as possible. It is neither by far nor by near, an apology for Islamic radicalism and violence; show only a naked reality that, whether we like it or not, exists and which is not worth ignoring. The most attentive viewer will find during the 04 episodes not only the large references associated with ISIS (free and medieval violence, religion, the situation of women, accepted and justified slavery, but also small references to the bombing of civilian targets, former officers of Saddam who, by being ostracized and persecuted in the Iraq, formed the backbone of senior officers who allowed ISIS to have some success at the beginning of the expansion of the Califado, as well as the relevant issue of advertising and its dissemination in social networks. To see without reservations ...

Great portrayal of the heinous nature of ISIS. And how regular British Muslims can get sucked in by the internet propaganda. And then are shocked when they actually arrive and see the true nature of these people supposedly called Muslims. When they are just extremists like every Religion has. It really put into perspective for me that Christians & Muslims are not that different. And both have radical extremists that use religion as an excuse for violent and offensive behavior. I don't know how anyone saw this as propaganda for ISIS. Who would want to live that way? It wasn't glorified at all. It showed the harsh reality of everyday life. And it didn't look fun to me.

Billions of people have been killed in the name of God of Abraham & his heaven, don't know how many more would be. The film has been well crafted, keeps your interest intact, shows what strict adherence to an idealogy can do.

This is characteristic Daesh propaganda material. It is about mental disordered, psycho retarded, scum of society...etc. persons who joined Daesh with ultimate aim to extinct others who does not "think" as they do and now asks for forgiveness because they did not succeeded in their goals. In this, so called "movie", violently is presented to us, normal people, that their causes were justified and we shall forgive them because "they did not know where they gone....Oh yes...they knew that very well.

I am sick of that propaganda materials. This "movie" should be censored.

While the action and character development took a little while to unroll I found myself thinking on several occasions, "That's a Game of Thrones twist right there." After watching the first episode I ended up binge watching the remaining following three episodes in one sitting. The characters enter into the ISIS death cult with the best of intentions and soon discover that their idealized, romantic vision of an Islamic paradise on Earth is in actuality a corrupt, power-obsessed regime bent on creating a uniform group think with an apocalyptic vision of the future, reinforced by heinous acts of savagery and barbarity. There are other reviews that outline the story line but in general, if you like the convoluted political machinations and character awakenings of Game of Thrones, you will really like The State.

Mostly moist brained Americans- one on here even had the stupidity to suggest All the Middle East's problems result from not accepting Western democracy- are the ones who would typically choose to believe their OWN media as opposed to ANYTHING else. These are the unevolved worlds trash who think they know what ISIS is. The stark truth is only those who have lived within have any right to speak with authority. If ISIS doesn't adhere to the Quran, they get criticised for not being real muslims- Yet when was the last time you met a Christian who strictly adhered to the New Testament? The point is these troglodytes don't realise the extent to which they're being manipulated- just like ISIS recruits. When you compare the atrocities carried out by the U.S and it's allies- just in the Middle East alone- ISIS looks like a Boy Scout group. You fools don't understand context. Lastly cluster bombs and other weapons which are banned by the Geneva convention are currently used by Saudi Arabia, Israel and the U.S. Here's one that'll rattle your cage. How many Western men ( I've spoken to hundreds of you ) detest the way women flaunt their sexuality and rapidly rising blind power? That's what hijabs, etc prevent. I'm not advocating violence against women, but we live in a society that manipulated and subliminally stimulate our sexual desires so we become better consumers. But nobody, nothing addresses the terrible frustration and sexual angst that this advertising and marketing bombardment 24/7 causes. Except, we are vilified for being men. Before you judge the Arabic world as backwards- moderate Islam has evolved and thought deep and hard about the customs it has erected. They didn't rule an enormous empire for roughly 800 years influencing Western academic, cultural and social life that has long been forgotten. I abhor all organised religion because it's a weak cop-out to accept someone else's revelations about the way to live, rather than have the courage to take your own journey. Just cease thinking ISIS are one- dimensional goons from a horror movie. ( Americans who vote republican are excused as they don't have the ability and want to uphold the most evil structures in the world: The military industrial congressional complex.