The Oath

When you watch half a dozen documentaries on the War on Terror every month, it’s startling to be blindsided by one as essential as The Oath, an extraordinary feat of journalistic access. It’s been said that we fail to understand our enemies. Here is a movie that puts us squarely in front of a somewhat reformed jihadist, Abu Jandal, a former Al Qaeda recruiter and onetime bodyguard to Osama bin Laden. He renounces violence against civilians but still considers himself a supporter of terrorist goals. The film sees him as a paradox: a genial family man and taxi driver who leads a shadow life preaching confrontation with the West; a teacher of aspiring jihadists simultaneously respected in his home country of Yemen and regarded as a traitor for breaking his oath to bin Laden.

In attempting a type of reporting that few have been brave enough to do, Poitras (My Country, My Country) has acknowledged the danger of being a mouthpiece for Abu Jandal. Indeed, as the film peels back his layers, it’s clear what he says can’t always be taken at face value. Nevertheless, the movie argues, he proved invaluable in identifying the September 11 hijackers and supplying other intelligence to the FBI. The Oath tells his story in counterpoint to that of his brother-in-law, bin Laden driver and ex–Guantánamo detainee Salim Hamdan, and in a roundabout way Poitras uses their experiences to hold up a mirror to our own values. It’s hard to think of another documentary that approaches the post–September 11 era from this angle or with this degree of intellectual drama—or that seeks to understand a terrorist mind-set so fearlessly.

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