Rebel

The French prove once again that they are the king of European filmmaking with the Poles. Allah Akbar! A crazy insight into ISIS with all the bad that goes with it. The main character travels to Syria but is involuntarily forced to fight for ISIS and certainly doesn't have a nice time there. There are executions, the purchase of a wife through an auction, wounded children, torture, the radicalization of young children and recruits to the Caliphate, and the mandatory realistic one-shot war action set-piece. Definitely a force to be reckoned with. We have two storylines, where in the first one the protagonist is trying to survive and has to follow unpleasant orders, like sometimes mercilessly execute someone on camera. We follow the relationship with his newly bought wife portrayed quite engagingly and unconventionally. I like that the film is shot from the other side, so the unpleasant atmosphere is almost always in the air and danger lurks at every turn – every little thing and mistake here can cost someone their life. In the second storyline we follow the main character's little brother in Belgium who is being radicalised by one of the local ISIS members – brainwashing children, they could do that. The mother is desperate and feels she is slowly losing her son. The atmosphere is cramped, the music is excellent and the emotions work. An uncomfortable and, in short, good film on a rewarding subject. There's not much action in the end, but the film holds your attention constantly. 8/10. (2023.06.06)