Laura Poitras' film is the story of two men whose lives were intimately caught up with the Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the very different paths those lives took after the American invasion of Iraq.
Poitras originally intended the film to be about Guantanomo Bay prisoner Salim Hamdan, who was bin Laden's driver but then she met Abu Jandal, Hamdan's brother-in-law, bin Laden's bodyguard and a self-admitted recruiting officer for Al Qaeda. Jandal is a free man, working as a taxi driver in Yemen, now reformed (or so he says), who gained his freedom by naming names post 9/11.
An engaging character, his on-screen presence is counterpointed by the absence of Hamdan, who is represented on screen by stills, letters to his family and his charismatic defence lawyer Lt Cmdr Brian Mizer, who is determined to gain his client a fair trial and his freedom. As Hamdan's trial continues, the film contrasts the two men's lives and beliefs in this intriguing interlocking drama.
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