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Post 9/11 Americans were told that the jihadists were monsters and inhuman - Abu Ghraib and Gitmo ensued. The movie tests our assumptions about how and why people do monstrous things.

The movie was made with remarkable access to a rehabilitation program in Saudi Arabia about four former jihadists. Audiences probably remember when Gitmo detainees were released to Saudi Arabia that the press cast doubt that jihadists could be rehabilitated. The movie asks a similar question but through the lives of the four jihadists.

The movie humanizes the men by showing how young they were when they were radicalized and headed to Afghanistan and other locations to wage the perverted jihad preached by mullahs.(America had a few who answered a similar call - see information about frank lindh's son ). But, through interviews and other engagement we learn how persons who have done monstrous things need not be monsters.

The movie dispels the slander that the movie is Saudi Arabian propaganda or that a white female filmmaker could not make a movie about Arab men. The movie is ultimately about truth - which any documentary should be.

I think that there is another documentary here - how the documentary field has been hijacked at times by activists who suppress expression rather than engage with it.

This film features a new actor carrying the emotions of a 13 year old boy navigating puberty and the terrors and travails of high school. His path is complicated by his Pakistani heritage but his awkwardness and determination comes to a resolution that is genuine.

This emotional story is not the usual path seen in many films. Where some coming of age films produce strong emotions from a booming soundtrack this movie finds a gentler and authentic method.

This is the American experience for so many immigrants. While assimilation should not mean cultural annihilation, it does require evolution. The strictures of a Muslim upbringing somehow comes to terms with the humanity of learning how to be oneself.

The spy thriller has a formula. The spy might have extraordinary abilities (Bourne & Bond), or a wounded person.(slow horses with Gary Oldman) but this one has a person wracked with guilt seeking redemption. Rapace is at her predicable best and is supported with an extraordinary cast including Douglas, Bloom, Malkovich and an almost unrecognizable Toni Collette. The script has its moments as it taken by Director Apted at a fast pace. Look for the twists as Apted moves the story along so the lush locations can add yet another character to the story. Some plot elements can be a bit obscure but that complaint is true of much worse films that use action as plot bandaids. This movie is well worth seeing.