By Mohammad Mirbashiri

A pillow case is lifted to the reveal the face of a bearded man who sits kneeling, hands and feet bound, in a dimly lit room with several soldiers surrounding him. It is post-2001 Afghanistan. He tells the guards his name is ‘Salim Hamdan’. This is how Laura Poitras’ documentary ‘The Oath’ begins.

Salim Hamdan, former driver to Osama Bin Laden and now Guantanamo Bay detainee, is the brother-in-law of this feature documentary’s protagonist Abu Jandal. Against the backdrops of Afghanistan, Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay and the streets of the Yemeni capital Sana’a we are taken on an intimate journey into the life of taxi driver, Abu Jandal.

Abu Jandal is a man who claims his past job was personal bodyguard to Osama Bin Laden and still refers to Bin Laden with the honorific title ‘Sheikh’. Abu Jandal openly explains his past role as the ‘Emir of Hospitality’, responsible for looking after all those who came to undergo training for terrorist attacks, including the suspected perpetrators of 9/11.

The images and language in the documentary may seem familiar to us, we’ve heard it before. What seems to be the same old story by the Western media however is instead being narrated to us by a charismatic Arab man who would be considered a terrorist by many. In a chilling scene he asks his son, ‘do you want to be a jihadist or mechanic?’ to which his young son replies ‘jihadist’.

Poitras’ film raises complex questions by focusing on the personal stories of Abu Jandal and his brother-in-law, asking us to re-think our notions of jihad, Al-Qaeda and America’s war on terror. Abu Jandal is conflicted in his views. On the one hand, he condemns terrorist acts towards civilians and sees acts of terrorism on civilians as wrong even if it goes against his oath to Al-Qaeda; whilst on the other hand, even after having renounced terrorism, he is sympathetic towards Osama Bin Laden and the main goals of Al-Qaeda.

The insight into the personal life of Abu Jandal, the way in which he thinks, and indeed the ideology of Al-Qaeda are brought under fine inspection in this noteworthy film which also presents a harsh critique of how America tackles the war on terror.

The Oath will be screening at various venues across London this month as part of the annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival, for more information see:
http://www.hrw.org/en/iff/oath