FILM REVIEW - PATH OF BLOOD (2018)

PATH OF BLOOD depicts Islamist terrorism as it has never been seen before. Exposing the dark side of the human condition, the film presents a series of unseen jihadi home-movie footage that was captured by Saudi security services. Throughout it's 90 minute runtime, the documentary chronicles the struggles between Saudi Arabian security forces and young terrorist cells who prepare to give up their lives in light of what they believe. The phenomenom and impact of muslim terrorism is felt everyday. All you have to do is watch television news and your likely see a wave of stories, framed to further create prejedice in the west. 

In most news articles we never get the chance to understand why these suicide attacks occur of a daily basis. Like a badly constructed Hollywood movie, there is a a broad brush painted when it comes to understanding why so many young men are prepared to die. In this chilling documentary, within the opening few moments we bear witness to seeing these 'monsters' at their most human. We have all seen snippets of terrorist confession tapes. In PATH OF BLOOD we see even these videos are fabricated. A young terrorist is continuing forced to re-record as he doesn't understand the line of questioning. At the risk of sounding patronising, this young man is clearly way over his head. The revealing footage shows that he isn't at the intelluct of the off screen mentors, who keep feeding questions and ideologies that are above his intelluct. It's a truly sad moment, seeing a young man prepared to give his life for something he truly does not understand. As humans we are all have the capablity to do horrible things. This is something we often surpass, attaching notions of superiority, that we could never become like these 'monsters'. PATH OF BLOOD has it's fair share of footage of smashed and shredded bodies, shockingly these pale in comparison to the brain washing of defensive, young, feeble minds. This is where the documentary is at it's most chilling and memorable.

Those with a knowledge of 'Mondo Cane', 'The Killing of America' and even 'Faces of Death' won't be taken aback by some of the documentary's horrific moments. In terms of what you actually see, the filmmakers have taken precautions to avoid falling into the trappings of exploitation. The film is not that interested in filling the screen with blood, the true horror comes from seeing little boys barely able to walk drop and roll, holding toy pistols as they are praised off screen. It's moments like these which bring home the banality of evil. To us with the knowledge of what these people are it's horrifying, to them it's just another day in Saubi Arabia. Another interesting moment in the film occurs when we see high up government officials denouncing the acts of these terrorist cells. This is particularly revealing as many in the West always expect people from the muslim world to vehemently oppose these acts. If the scenes in this documentary are to go by, it proves that media values may take a part in why we don't hear these comments. It doesn't fit in with the agenda we have here in the west.

PATH OF BLOOD does have it's flaws. Although the footage presented is expertly crafted, with some truly creative uses of sound and editing, the film fulls flat when it comes to chronicling a sense of time and place. For those that have a more expert knowledge of the origins of Al-Qeida and ISIS genesis, they maybe able to grasp way these moments are important. Outside of the cliched voiceover narration by Samuel West, we are kind of left to experience these videos with little to no context. The film climaxes on a truly shocking attack on a government official. This and another terrorist act largely go unnoticed. The fact these cells could break into nothing short of headscratching. The film abruptly ends and you are sort of left with no resolution or greater understanding of the subject. Maybe that's the intent but it's a little underwhelming.