Hostage to Emotion

If Guests of the Ayatollah, Mark Bowden’s first post-9/11 book, proves anything, it is that in these troubling times not even the most level-headed of us are immune to emotionalism and bigotry. Bowden’s previous books, Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo, were exemplary pieces of investigative journalism, intricately detailed and coolly non-political. Black Hawk Down, [...]

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Pulling the Strings for Intifada

“What happens afterwards?” a Palestinian suicide bomber asks his recruiter in Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now. “Two angels will pick you up.” “Are you sure?” “Absolutely. You’ll see.” Nothing is simple with this remarkable little film. There are no foam-mouthed jihadists, no hapless victims, no cathartic plot twists. No attempt is made to sway your opinion [...]

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Shades of Haditha

I had a terrible sense of deja vu watching Bloody Sunday, Paul Greengrass’s brilliant movie about the massacre of 14 demonstrators by British paratroopers in Derry, Northern Ireland on January 30, 1972. For those of you just joining the show — yeah, I do mean Haditha. Employing the terrifyingly detached semi-documentary style that has made [...]

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