I like the fact that this film is non-Hollywood in it's delivery. It's unglamorous, but still quite sophisticated in capturing the monochromatic lives of the terrorists-to-be. It presents a concise timeline of events in a pointed and deliberate manner. It doesn't pretend to be absolute or correct, and it knows it's an estimation of how things might have went down.Inevitably, Hollywood will roll out its own 9/11 films and they will be glossy and full of big budget bloat, but this humble effort will remain as testament to the idea that a simple film can be as compelling and inviting to interpretation without the need for dramatic flair and elaborate crane rigs.

There is no doubt about it, this is a controversial movie, and it took me a while to see it. Missing it at the Edinburgh Film Festival really got to me but I managed to see it just recently.I understand that it doesn't yet have a US\Canada release and although there have been talks, nothing has yet been signed up, and no wonder. The subject matter is focused on one of the hijackers of the September 11th Twin Towers attack. Yes. Very controversial and highly emotionally charged topic.The first thing I'd say about the movie is it is portrayed as an unbiased movie, however that isn't quite true but it's clear to see why. The movie solely rests with the hijackers and the lead up to those terrible events of September the 11th but doesn't concentrate on the events of that day, there are a few shots that remind you of the actual attack, but detail isn't entered into and I think that actually is a good thing.There's a lot of strong feeling about that day, and very rightly so, but in a movie which tries to take no sides, concentrating on the events would clearly fill any sane person with great sadness and a strong anger against the hijackers and the groups to which they belong.Okay, so let's put that part to the side and try and concentrate on the movie itself. Antonio Bird has carried through Ronan Bennett's story very well, documenting the process of the main character, Ziad Jarrah played by Karim Salah, transforming from a Western Muslim living the life of a typical student, to a Muslim extremist.Salah portrays the role excellently, carrying with total believability, the slow change. He starts as a typical student, interested in his own life and ignoring his initial upbringings looking at love and life as a Doctor. Slowly, he is indoctored into a group of Muslims, rediscovering his religion, and from there an extremist pulls him across to their cause and the change in the character is small but obvious. He becomes strong, self assured, and angry.This carries on for much of the movie, but when the realisations of what is happening and what he is committing to become more apparent, his love for his wife and their Western life come into contention.From the outset this movie shocks, and it does very well in showing what was behind one of the hijackers. What isn't so good is it doesn't quite hit the mark on this very change. I could see what changed him, and I could understand the peer and religious pressure around him (this is very eloquently shown in the movie) but you still find yourself asking why? A vital few steps are missing, and this may purely be down to the lack of historical information, or the complexity of the subject.Although an even more difficult subject, I felt the religious and Jihad side could be tackled more, but that might have made the film more inaccessible to the mainstream Western audience.In the end, the movie condemns what these people did with an extremely loud voice, but not from the extreme Western view that can often be heard today, but from the characters words and actions throughout their brief history. Indeed some of the victim support groups from that day have applauded the release of a film to understand the fundamentalist mindset.This movie is well worth watching, believe me when I say it isn't all from the side of the hijackers, and it does not attempt in the slightest to justify events, it is an attempt at understanding.

THE HAMBURG CELL has been praised for managing to be "a strictly non-partisan film". This is a difficult thing to achieve, considering the subject matter, and I don't think the makers of this story manage to pull it off. It's interesting to note that only fleeting glimpses of the damaged twin towers and a crashing plane are shown: there are no shots of the World Trade Center workers falling to their deaths, or re-enactments how how the hijackers slit the throats of airstewardesses. This is supposed to be a non-partisan film, remember? But wait, close-up footage of murdered Bosnian Muslims IS shown earlier in the film. We see a murdered Muslim woman, shot in the back, in close-up. I detect some bias here...

Director Antonia Bird and scriptwriters Ronan Bennett and Alice Pearman have made this year's most controversial drama production which deals with the terrorists behind 9/11 . It's also the most pointless production of the year down to the fact that it's a work of fiction . Okay it's based on true events and characters but that doesn't mean there's any truth in the details . Take for example when terrorist to be Ziad Jarrah discusses Lebanon his country of birth to a Jihadist . The Jihadist mentions the atrocities carried out by Christian phalangists at the Shatilla and Shebron Palestinian refugee camps in Southern Lebanon in September 1982 which seems to motivate Ziad . But ask yourself this . Why would a Muslim be motivated to become a terrorist through this conversation ? These Christian phalangists were under the command of the Lebanese Christian government at the time , while the civilians they murdered were vaguely associated with relatives who were in the PLO , a secular Marxist Leninist organization . Christians murdering atheists , now why would that stir Muslim feelings of revenge ? We also have no proof this discussion took place and is almost certainly an invention on the part of the scriptwriters I do feel there is an agenda with this movie as portraying the hi-jackers as too human , as if they were victims of indoctrination misguided by more extreme world jihadists who were using them as pawns and that they weren't fundamentally cruel . There's a point where this view should be allowed but THE HAMBURG CELL over steps the mark . Take the scene where the terrorists are being shown physical methods on taking over the jets . " Surprise is your greatest weapon " says one of the instructors as he grapples with a volunteer showing him restraining methods . From what we know of the hijackings themselves surprise wasn't the greatest weapon - Sticking knives through the eyes and throats of the cabin crew were , not unarmed combat . Shock and horror was used to intimidate the passengers , not surprise . Trying to tell me someone capable of stabbing a air stewardess to death is misguided ? That they never had the potential to become a cold blooded murderer all along ?As stated there's no scenes of the terrorists murdering anyone ( The footage of the twin towers negates to show the shocking scenes of people trapped jumping hundreds of feet to their death ) but shows Bosnian muslims with their heads and limbs blown off . The Balkans conflict was terrible especially for the muslims living there . Perhaps I should point out if it wasn't for NATO intervention in Bosnia in 1995 and Kosovo in 1999 there would have been few if any muslims left in the Balkans today . What country leads NATO ? The same one that suffered on 9/11 There are a few positive points to THE HAMBURG CELL . One is that the script via one of Ziad's relatives points out that these Islamic terrorists are corrupting the words of Allah , but I feel this is down to political correctness where the producers don't want to be accused of showing all muslims as terrorists . It's also Antonia Bird's best film as director which considering her volume of work is only a backhanded compliment . I will also give faint praise to the script for pointing out that Osama Bin Laden was behind the atrocity . Even today some people deny he had any involvement despite all the evidence I'm sorry if this review isn't as complex as it should have been . I had planned to make it very analytical but I'm not really in the mood since I spent the afternoon seeing a real life horror show coming out of a school in Southern Russia where as many as several hundred schoolchildren have been murdered or mutilated by terrorists . The only happy story I have heard today is that some of the fleeing terrorists were beaten to death by Russian mobs . I'm not proud of these feelings