This documentary is complicated. In it, Poitras tells the story of two men tied very directly to Osama bin Laden either before or during the 9/11 attacks. Salim Hamdan's story is told through letters he wrote while imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, as well as through his brother-in-law, Abu Jandal, a former bodyguard to bin Laden. Hamdan's story is interesting and impactful, but the bulk of this documentary really focuses on Jandal.

The director follows Jandal through his normal life in Yemen, where he is a taxi driver and, according to him, has a price on his head from the younger generation of jihadists associated with bin Laden. Jandal was imprisoned in Yemen directly after the attack on the USS Cole and was still in prison during the 9/11 attacks. He was being rehabilitated through the "Dialogue Project" which seeks to ensure that prisoners do not return to the jihadist way of life.

Watching Jandal teach his son to pray, talk to young men about jihad and what it was like to be a part of bin Laden's army, and give interviews and interact with regular people was mesmerizing. It was easy to forget, at times, that this man was (and probably still is) completely hateful of Americans and wants to see us destroyed. Yet, he is also a human being, capable of changing his mind, of contradicting himself, of suffering. I found myself pulled in ten different directions while watching this film. It was uncomfortable, and because it was, I can't help but feel it was important.

I found myself having to stop and think about those people on the airplanes that fateful day, to imagine being a passenger who was forced to give their life as a sacrifice to this religious zealotry. Poitras was so effective in opening a window to truth and understanding about our enemy that, frankly, it was easy to forget that this is the enemy.

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