Because of its shortcomings, “(T)error” serves as evidence of a broken system rather than an indictment of it. This documentary uses incredible access to informants … They force Saeed to introduce an agent to Khalifah, who immediately unmasks him just by Googling his cellphone number. Review: ‘(T)error’ Documentary Follows an Informant in an F.B.I. he premise of (T)ERROR is astounding. But satire gives way to tragedy once it becomes apparent that Saeed and Khalifah are equally trapped in a larger net being silently drawn by a US government that is so determined never to let another 9/11 happen that it treats each of them as mere pawns in its overweening, intrusive surveillance program. There are plot twists awaiting the viewer — one of which is so shocking, it’s better left unspoiled — but the filmmakers demonstrate a calm confidence in the material by refraining from goosing the story’s narrative turns with any artificial, manipulative gimmicks like a demonstrative score or showy editing tricks. If the FBI is turning to flawed, unpolished ex-cons like Saeed to uncover possible terrorist activities, how confident should Americans be in their government’s safeguarding methods? It also received a score of 73 (generally favorable) on Metacritic , based on 12 reviews. Reviews (T)ERROR Brian Tallerico October 07, 2015.

Documentary directors Lyric R Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe gained access to both an undercover FBI informant, Saeed, who was working on a counterterrorism operation, and Khalifah, the target that the FBI instructed him to investigate. By Peter Debruge The FBI’s system of counterterrorism informants is inherently broken.

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build a case against Mr. al-Akili. 2 / 5 stars 2 out of 5 stars. US. Heat Vision Box Office Reviews Archives. Sundance 2015 review: (T)ERROR – is entrapment always this boring? MOVIES '(T)ERROR': Sundance Review. This site uses cookies. 84mins. Dirs: Lyric R. Cabral & David Felix Sutcliffe. In his own words, Saeed explains how his dedication to supporting the African-American community as a Black Panther in the 1960s brought him into conflict with the US government — even though, ironically, he’s now working for the same power structure he once despised. (Another reason to question Saeed’s effectiveness: he doesn’t bother to inform his superiors that he’s allowing the documentarians to film him while on assignment — an early revelation that gives the entire movie an air of quiet suspense.). A Muslim himself, Saeed has no compunction about trying to entrap a fellow disciple, frustrated how his faith has been perverted by violent extremists and also desperate for the money the FBI provides him. Few documents are displayed, and hard facts are scarce. Yet such evidence is worrisome and points to a threat to civil rights. Premiering early this year at the Sundance Film Festival before embarking on a festival run and a BBC Storyville slot on TV in the UK, T(error) begins in 2011 as Saeed Torres, a former Black Panther who has been working for the FBI’s counterterrorism program for two decades, agrees to let the documentarians follow him as he travels from his undisclosed home on the East Coast to Pittsburgh in order to befriend a suspected local potential terrorist, a white Muslim convert named Khalifah Ali Al-Akili. agents, current or retired, are interviewed for context or corroboration; an ending note says only that the agency did not respond to a request for comment.

The narrative doesn’t pick up steam until that hour is concluded, when the FBI interferes in Saeed’s infiltration. As illustrated by this minor but troubling story, it’s a big concern. (He shoots guns at a firing range and puts inflammatory anti-American comments on his Facebook page, although Saeed feels pretty confident that the younger man is all talk.). By the end of (T)ERROR, we see both Saeed and Khalifah as victims, desperate men played against each other by a government striving to make more terrorism arrests, even as their tactics drive more people to terrorism. counterterrorism operation, follows Saeed Torres, a former Black Panther and self-described “civilian operative” who says he works as a paid undercover informant. US. 'T(error)': Review. 2020 film festivals and markets: latest dates, postponements and cancellations, Cinema reopening dates around the world: latest updates, Irish Film and Television awards to go online, Karlovy Vary unveils details of slimmed-down 2020 physical event, ‘Tenet’ tops UK-Ireland box office for sixth week as top five takings increase 12%, China box office: ‘My People, My Homeland’ tops National Day weekend, ‘Eternal Beauty’, ‘Enfant Terrible’, ‘The Trial Of The Chicago 7’ opening in key European territories this week, Belgium’s Magritte awards cancels 2021 edition due to Covid-19, Bafta confirms 2021 film awards eligibility rules, key dates; introduces fees, Roman Polanski responds to César Academy row, Stars of Tomorrow One-to-One: ​Maxine Peake & Paul Mescal, Word of Mouth - Destiny Ekaragha: ”I usually go to YouTube for film reviews”, Screen unveils the 2020 Stars of Tomorrow, ‘Black Box’: TV Review ('Welcome To The Blumhouse'), ‘The Lie’: TV Review (‘Welcome To The Blumhouse’), Copyright © 2019 Media Business Insight Limited, Stars of Tomorrow and exclusive supplements.

The FBI’s system of counterterrorism informants is inherently broken, as the directors describe, but it’s hard to get the message out with a film this flawed. Still, though the film gains your trust, it leaves too much unverified. If you assume everything said in “(T)error” is true — and for the most part, I do — it’s a sobering story. After months of getting to know Khalifah, Saeed’s cover is blown. No F.B.I. (T)ERROR is her first feature length documentary, and premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize for Break Out First Feature. Despite this, Mr. Torres says, he is told to press on, which casts suspicion on the F.B.I.’s investigation and, by association, its use of informants. The movie, billed as the first documentary to embed filmmakers in an F.B.I. This is a complex, fascinating man, and the fact that he’s a paid informant is (T)error’s first indication that Cabral and Sutcliffe have serious misgivings about US counterterrorism. T(ERROR) ... investigating the investigators. Neither knew that the crew was filming both sides as it was playing out.

The film-makers’ inexperience shows (this is the first feature for Cabral and second for Sutcliffe) and they seem unsure how to whittle down the footage of Saeed early in his investigation. Cabral and Sutcliffe spent seven months in Pittsburgh tracking Saeed, an African-American Muslim, and his prey, an American who was raised Protestant but converted to militant Islam. A sympathetic but clear-eyed character study transforms into something more insidious, sobering and infuriating in (T)error, a superb documentary that personalises the US War on Terror in ways that make the human toll intimate and unmistakable. After experiencing (T)error and getting a sense of both Saeed and Khalifah, what comes through strongest is the almost comically woeful operation in which both men find themselves.

Subscribe now for monthly editions, awards season weeklies, access to the Screen International archive and supplements including Stars of Tomorrow and World of Locations. Production companies: ITVS, BBC Storyville, Charlotte Street Films, Stories Seldom Seen, US distribution: The Film Collaborative, www.thefilmcollaborative.org, International sales: ro*co, [email protected], Producers: Christopher St. John, Lyric R. Cabral, David Felix Sutcliffe, Executive producers: Eugene Jarecki, Nick Fraser, Cinematography: Lyric R. Cabral, David Felix Sutcliffe, Editors: Laura Minnear, Jean-Philippe Boucicaut, First-time feature details a Palestinian father’s desperate attempts to get back into Israel to see his sick son, Bodhan Slama looks at the lethal effects of nationalism in this accomplished film set in the aftermath of the Second World War, It’s a dog’s life for everyone in this award-winning doc set on the streets of Istanbul, A new cinematic universe establishes itself with the second in the ‘Fengshen’ series of fantastical stories, ‘Welcome To The Blumhouse’ continues with a story about a man who plunges into a rabbithole of his own mind, Peter Sarsgaard and Mireille Enos play parents who try to hide their daughter’s crime in this stand-alone film in Blumhouse’s anthology for Prime. The premise of (T)ERROR is astounding. Cabral and Sutcliffe do a magnificent job reminding us to remain aware of the broader, more disturbing implications of their deceptively modest thriller. Film Review: ‘(T)error’ A controversial immersion into an active counterterrorist investigation reveals the fallibility of the FBI informant process. At first a portrait of an FBI informant paid to go undercover to root out possible home-grown terror plots, directors Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe’s exposé ultimately finds both humour and horror in how the American intelligence community continues to overreact in the wake of 9/11, asking serious questions about whether the government’s methods are actually doing more harm than good. There’s a moment in Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe’s excellent “(T)ERROR” in which everyone in the audience will instantly sit up and move forward in their seat, expressing shock with their body language. Documentary directors Lyric R Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe gained access to both an undercover FBI informant, Saeed, who was working on a counterterrorism operation, and Khalifah, the target that the FBI instructed him to investigate. Making their feature-length debut, Cabral and Sutcliffe tell their story in miniature, sticking close to Saeed and getting a sense of his life as he misses his young son while struggling to pay the bills and living so far away from home. By Tim Grierson, Senior US Critic 2015-12-22T12:27:00+00:00. In his 60s, Saeed brandishes a tough-talking bluster that seems to be his way of playing the role of a hardened, street-savvy informant, while the thirtysomething Khalifah is similarly putting on a performance — that of a dangerous, aspiring Taliban freedom fighter. In a fleet, understated 84 minutes, (T)error spins a compelling cat-and-mouse yarn that lets the surprises develop organically.

". Yet such evidence is worrisome and points to a threat to civil rights. Inquiry. I almost wish I could see it in a theater just to witness it. Now streaming on: Powered by JustWatch. 2015. But as a well-crafted film, it has a long way to go. It received a 91% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 33 reviews. This documentary uses incredible access to informants and suspects to show how the FBI incites terrorism in order to catch its targets – but spends far too long on exposition, Last modified on Thu 15 Feb 2018 12.06 GMT. Mr. Torres meets Mr. al-Akili several times (none of those encounters, nor any with the F.B.I., are shown, only mentioned) and concludes that he isn’t a serious threat. Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe, the directors, travel with Mr. Torres to Pittsburgh, where Mr. Torres says his mission is to befriend Khalifah al-Akili, a man who may have, among other things, posted pro-Taliban statements online. By Tim Grierson, Senior US Critic2015-12-22T12:27:00+00:00, Dirs: Lyric R. Cabral & David Felix Sutcliffe.

Because of its shortcomings, “(T)error” serves as evidence of a broken system rather than an indictment of it. This is riveting stuff, but the boring setup, which wastes too much time on the minutiae of Saeed’s investigation, is enough to scare many people away from the action-packed final 30 minutes.

From a viewer’s standpoint, it also doesn’t help that we often merely watch Mr. Torres cooking, walking and waiting. [12] The consensus according to Rotten Tomatoes being " (T)ERROR should dishearten and disturb viewers concerned with the erosion of American civil rights — and it doesn't even hit its targets as hard as it could. 2015. The evidence presented makes it look like the FBI is entrapping American Muslims into crimes using highly paid informants. The first hour of the film is spent looking at Saeed’s life as an FBI informant and the cases he’s worked in the past. Neither knew that the crew was filming both sides as it was playing out. This is a very important topic. Screen International is the essential resource for the international film industry. 7:51 PM PST 1/29/2015 by John DeFore FACEBOOK; TWITTER; EMAIL ME; Courtesy of Sundance International Film Festival . Cabral and Sutcliffe do a magnificent job reminding us to remain aware of the broader, more disturbing implications of their deceptively modest thriller. 84mins .