How sad is this?

Crappy film

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

"The War Within" is creepy. Is creepy if you think about the script and about how someone can write the story of a man so consumed with his thoughts who is capable of looking his best friend in the face and tell him: "I don't expect you to understand what I'm talking about" and then write: "I don't expect you to understand what I'm going to do". It's creepier considering the man who partly wrote the script, Ayad Akhtar, plays that character; and this is his first performance in a full length picture.Don't get me wrong, but this script is too strong for its own good; it becomes hard to empathize with this main character even when we want to. However, his journey is a very interesting and involving tale; even when it's happening completely inside of him. The others in charge of this screenplay were Tom Glynn, who worked with Akhtar before in a short project called "Life Document 2: Identity" about a man's conversion to Islam; and Joseph Castelo, director of the film ("The War Within", let's not loose focus).What a perfect choice of title, I say. And more than appropriate in a movie that makes you think like this one, which begins in obscurity and it ends in obscurity. Castelo handles a world of fear, unspoken words and intense looks with impressive professionalism, aided mainly by David Holmes' simple but effective score (with a lot of influence from Coldplay and popular music) and Lisa Rinzler's cinematography (she has photographed lonely men before; watch "Pollock" and "Love Liza").About performances, well, I would definitely have to see more of Akhtar, but I can assure you his look is so humble and shows a lot of inner pain that you want to cry. There's sadness in his face which is not entirely explained and it makes you want to find out. On the other side, we have Firdous Bamji, an actor with a little more experience, portraying Akhtar's best friend. He plays the character as a man full of love and concern that can't seem to accept deception and has to make decisions with a big amount of effort. Bamji achieves the performance to praise in the picture.Some scenes of "The War Within" really get to you; some conversations that turn into discussions, some love encounters, some lessons given, some actions taken…It's so hard to make a good movie about terrorism these days, because everyone wants to do it. And you know what's even harder? Make one about something that hasn't actually happened.Joseph Castelo does this very well and the best part is that he does it without the clichéd lines, without the stereotyped characters, without the predictable plot lines and without the big explosions.

I hope many Americans will see this movie and understand at least a part of the reasons why others in the world hate them. They don't hate an individual Ameriacan going about his/her business in lets say, Kokomo, Indiana because they are American, or because of their way of life.They do it because these decent citizens "let" their government destroy private lives of many families around the world in the name of Kokomans and the other 300 million Americans.So, dear friends, be above these suicide bombers and don't take it personally, but let your local elected representative know that you give a damn.

Despite copious data that would indicate otherwise, suicide terrorism and fundamentalist Islam are inextricably linked in the public mind. It's more comfortable to imagine villains to be driven to such an act by an extremist ideology, perhaps compounded by personal or psychological problems, than to imagine them as having tangible goals one could possibly relate to. If suicide terrorists are not religious extremists then one would have to start looking for what else could prompt such behavior. In states that are victims of suicide terrorism, the answers to those questions are quite often troubling as it is normally the case that it was some act, or acts, perpetrated by the victim state that triggered the bombing or bombings (Explanation being different from justification, etc.). In Joseph Castelo's new The War Within, the would-be bomber is a combination of the two narratives.A recipe of equal parts fundamentalist indoctrination and victimization by American foreign policy have created Hassan (an excellent Ayad Akhtar, who shares screenplay credits as well). The film opens with Hassan in Paris' Latin Quarter. He's abducted by American agents and taken to Pakistan for "questioning". There he's subjected to continuing sessions of torture that break the man he was before. His sole source of strength in prison is the support and care of fellow prisoner Khalid (Charles Daniel Sandoval), a member of "The Brotherhood", a group Hassan initially rejected. The story of Hassan's conversion from a secular, drinking, smoking, dancing mechanical engineer to a fanatically devout militant bombmaker is not fleshed out. It is more or less abandoned for the sake of catching up with Hassan a few years later though sufficient key details are parceled out in the occasional flashback.Three years later a free Hassan is smuggled into the United States where he unites with a clandestine terrorist cell headed by Khalid. Assuring Khalid that there is no likelihood of his being detected, Hassan goes to stay with Sayeed (Firdous Bamji), a friend from his youth. Sayeed, Farida (Sarita Choudhury) their son Ali (Varun Sriram) are well adjusted to American life. They're are a liberal, and largely secular bunch that do well to combine Pakistani and Muslim traditions with American pastimes as when having an Eid barbecue. Being lifelong friends Sayeed welcomes Hassan, who tells him that he's interviewing for jobs, back into his life.After initial plans for multiple, simultaneous bombings are thwarted by the FBI, Khalid and Hassan try to salvage something from their original plans. Adjusting their objectives means for a longer stay than Hassan originally intended. He returns to Sayeed and with his help finds a job as a taxi driver while waiting for an opportunity to carry out his mission. Hassan has some difficulty with Sayeed's lifestyle but his personal struggle grows with his reintroduction to Sayeed's sister Duri (Nandana Sen). Though finding some Western tendencies of hers to be dissuading, Hassan and Duri start to rekindle a mutual attraction that is hinted as having existed in their shared past in Pakistan. This new twist in his life, along with his lifetime friendship with Sayeed make Hassan begin to struggle with his mission. Hassan sees different aspects of American life that give him pause and challenge his beliefs, and his willingness to carry out what he sees as his duty.In what is probably intended to be a portrayal of a different side of Islam, Sayeed and Hassan are witness to a sermon at a mosque by an Imam who talks about jihad as "the struggle of everyday life." This is one of the few but important missteps the film takes. Though likely well-intentioned, portraying the real conflict between moderate and fundamentalist Islam sheds no light on one of the films primary subjects, terrorism. "What I do, I do for Allah," Hassan states, in one of many lines that obfuscate the causes of terrorism. Terrorism is a political tool, not a religious one. No matter how horrific, illegal and unjustifiable, each campaign of suicide terrorism has an explicit and stated political goal that needs to be addressed in one way or another. Castelo does a good job in showing that actions of the intended victim state were a causative factor but a great deal more time is spent on Hassan's religious conversion.When Sayeed, Hassan and a group of Sayeed's friends are discussing the United States their conversation reveals the disconnect often present in the parlay over American policy. Sayeed's thinks America is a pretty decent place though "things are not perfect here." This is not at all related to a friend's claim that, "This country is a greedy tyrant." They seem to be disagreeing but it's easy for them to both be correct because they are not talking about the same thing. Sayeed, in a somewhat contradictory position for his character, represents the self-centered point of view shared by many Americans. This is contrasted nicely with the strong condemnation the films gives of the policy of extraordinary rendition, where suspects are taken to third-party nations for interrogation by means not allowable under American law.Through sure handed-direction, solid pacing and a slew of solid performances, The War Within is a conspicuously imperfect, but still quite good film. Hopefully some of the ideas the film has might creep in to the public mind such as the message on a billboard in the background of a scene in Times Square, "Democracy is best taught by example, not by war."

THE WAR WITHIN is a chilling and frightening tale of a Pakistani family torn between the "American dream" and the love and affection for a family member whose religious zeal and goal to destroy America will tear them apart. Joseph Castelo has directed and written a very important film which hopefully will receive a wide audience to educate Americans of the problems we live with today in a "post 9/11/01 United States of America".The film is a contrast between the world of terrorism, and the warmth of a family who attempt to make Hassan feel at home back in America, and to show him what this country has given them, and what America might also do for him, without giving up their Pakistani heritage, but wanting Hassan to adapt and fit in as they have done. And to live a happy and productive life.The final scenes are so dramatic and full of suspense and dread as you hope for a "Hollywood ending", only to find that Hassan's personal WAR WITHIN will lead to something else.America has always been a melting pot and a symbol of hope for those coming to our shores, THE WAR WITHIN is a wonderful example to show an audience that we must still look at diversity as a blessing for America, and not a curse. Thank you Joseph Castelo and Ayad Akhtar for this film.