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I wanted to but couldn't!

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The Hamburg Cell is a docudrama about the cell of Muslim fundamentalists that conducted the 9/11 attack. It starts about 5 years before 9/11 and follows many of the pilots in their efforts to get flight training and covers what was going on in some of their private lives. Not sure how much of it was accurate, seemed pretty realistic to me. Most seemed to just be looking for some fulfillment in their lives, but chose an extreme way to get it. It also shows the missteps, in hindsight, by US law enforcement agencies as these people could have been caught many times during their training. I don't think it really explained the reasons the terrorists chose to conduct their attack, but I guess we will never really know all the facts behind it. Technically a good film with few continuity errors and some good cinematography. The acting seemed a little hollow.

I am surprised at some of the negative comments made about this movie. I didn't see anything controversial in its handling of the 9/11 Bombings. People who opposed the Points of View expressed in "Hamburg Plot" were probably the same people who felt that Osama Bin Laden shouldn't have been Time Magazine's Man of the Year (when he clearly should have been). America believes in dissent and the characters in the "Hamburg Cell" expressively portrayed a certain point of View. I agree overall with the rating of 6/7 Given the movie. This was a good movie that showed a different point of View. I especially liked the Male and Female Leads.

As soon as The Hamburg Cell, a British television production was screened at the Dubai International Film Festival 2004 ( DIFF), many voices echoed in the spacious hall of Madinat Theatre to ask the same question : ' What is the intention of producing such a film? It still remains a big question why the movie had to be shown in an Arab country-based international film festival even when its screening was expected to trigger trouble rather than promote understanding. It was fortunate that the educated cultured Arab expatriates who viewed the film were not stirred beyond certain limits. Egyptian born actor Kamel, interestingly declining throughout the event to reveal his family name, told news agencies that he feared that the audience's reaction could have erupted into violence. " I thought somebody could throw something," said Kamel. " When I was coming up the stairs I thought this could be the moment." He also expressed concern that one day he would have to confront the hijackers' families. Even though the movie was screened elsewhere, it was in the Dubai that kamel came to view it for the first time. But back to the question of intentions, it was hard to say that the production was basically directed against the culprits or their countries as much as it was against their crimes. But the film in its totality came lacking in several respects with regard to in-depth analysis and cultural facts that made it appear more like a suspense movie rather than a dramatic treatment. But after all the 9.11 attacks were definitely possessed of a high suspense element and could inspire a perfect disaster genre. However, Finola Dwyer, the film producer who was also present, played down the suspense aspect, stressing the political and the social dimensions of the issue. Considering the film from that latter perspective, it is worth underlining the factor of timing: it is as yet too early to produce a movie about that mammoth terrorist happening. Not all facts relating to the disaster are available and we expect much more to be unraveled in the future. Dwyer refused to recognize the question of timing and went on to add that for the film to avoid appearing tilted towards the West, a team of Arab actors were selected to cast in the film. But how would that matter when the actor is not the one who constructs the screenplay! Claims came that the movie was accurately researched with some of the facts provided by the CIA. But the viewing of Hamburg Cell still didn't add much to what came in the media reports throughout the last three years. In Hamburg- the coastal German city- where the terrorists were said to have started planning for the deadly operations which claimed 3,000 lives, we encounter bearded fundamentalists who brain-wash young students with secular tendencies. In one example, that of Atta, there is a fleeting scene in which we understand that pressures by his father to get a PhD might have driven him towards such activities. But at no point are we enlightened about why those students succumb to the fundamentalists' wishes while their Saudi accomplices were pushed to the sidelines!On the cultural platform we are told that the attackers, besides the political motives, were disgusted by the Western materialistic lifestyle in which an individual's goal is no other than property like a villa, a car and other perks that accompany an executive position. The political motive was hardly there, only a short fight and a dispute between Jarrah and a Palestinian mate remain one among a few other details highlighted to accentuate the political aspect of the terrorists' motive. No images of their original background in their home countries was ever there. No images of Israeli and American aggressions on Iraq and Palestine were directly cited, although these are still the only excuse left for people in the Islamic world to express sympathy for the cause of the terrorists.It is important to note that the Arab and Islamic countries have undergone similar terrorist attacks by extremists in their recent history. What makes 9.11 different is the magnitude of the aggressions and their target being the US, the sole superpower. The production and related articles, however, are not primarily meant to turn the discussion into a political controversy. It is more about the drama and whether it fits into the subject matter. Karim Saleh said that every one has reacted to the 9.11 attacks, so why not the cinema. Right, but more daring would have been a documentary in which the producers could have focused on the attackers as well as the victims' families, the ground that breeds fundamentalism, the ambiguity that still surrounds the operations. It is understandable that this would have been a cumbersome task with much being kept as top secrets. But again if this is the case how could the Hamburg Cell be realistic if a lot of information is still in the realm of secrecy! At this stage we need a down-to-earth version of the disaster. In drama a lot can be added or deleted as in Titanic and other disaster films. At least in a matter as sensitive as the 9.11 attacks, still one of the main players on the political scene, a sensational like Hamburg Cell should figure at the bottom of the list. More than a suspense, in these troubled waters marking the world's political scene, we need works that provide more understanding than ones which increase tension. And at a film festival meant to bridge cultures the Hamburg Cell should have been excluded, just for the sake of peaceful moments enjoyed amid the conflicts that endanger world peace, stability and a prosperous future for humanity.-----( ENDS)

Director Antonia Bird and scriptwriters Ronan Bennett and Alice Pearman have made this year's most controversial drama production which deals with the terrorists behind 9/11 . It's also the most pointless production of the year down to the fact that it's a work of fiction . Okay it's based on true events and characters but that doesn't mean there's any truth in the details . Take for example when terrorist to be Ziad Jarrah discusses Lebanon his country of birth to a Jihadist . The Jihadist mentions the atrocities carried out by Christian phalangists at the Shatilla and Shebron Palestinian refugee camps in Southern Lebanon in September 1982 which seems to motivate Ziad . But ask yourself this . Why would a Muslim be motivated to become a terrorist through this conversation ? These Christian phalangists were under the command of the Lebanese Christian government at the time , while the civilians they murdered were vaguely associated with relatives who were in the PLO , a secular Marxist Leninist organization . Christians murdering atheists , now why would that stir Muslim feelings of revenge ? We also have no proof this discussion took place and is almost certainly an invention on the part of the scriptwriters I do feel there is an agenda with this movie as portraying the hi-jackers as too human , as if they were victims of indoctrination misguided by more extreme world jihadists who were using them as pawns and that they weren't fundamentally cruel . There's a point where this view should be allowed but THE HAMBURG CELL over steps the mark . Take the scene where the terrorists are being shown physical methods on taking over the jets . " Surprise is your greatest weapon " says one of the instructors as he grapples with a volunteer showing him restraining methods . From what we know of the hijackings themselves surprise wasn't the greatest weapon - Sticking knives through the eyes and throats of the cabin crew were , not unarmed combat . Shock and horror was used to intimidate the passengers , not surprise . Trying to tell me someone capable of stabbing a air stewardess to death is misguided ? That they never had the potential to become a cold blooded murderer all along ?As stated there's no scenes of the terrorists murdering anyone ( The footage of the twin towers negates to show the shocking scenes of people trapped jumping hundreds of feet to their death ) but shows Bosnian muslims with their heads and limbs blown off . The Balkans conflict was terrible especially for the muslims living there . Perhaps I should point out if it wasn't for NATO intervention in Bosnia in 1995 and Kosovo in 1999 there would have been few if any muslims left in the Balkans today . What country leads NATO ? The same one that suffered on 9/11 There are a few positive points to THE HAMBURG CELL . One is that the script via one of Ziad's relatives points out that these Islamic terrorists are corrupting the words of Allah , but I feel this is down to political correctness where the producers don't want to be accused of showing all muslims as terrorists . It's also Antonia Bird's best film as director which considering her volume of work is only a backhanded compliment . I will also give faint praise to the script for pointing out that Osama Bin Laden was behind the atrocity . Even today some people deny he had any involvement despite all the evidence I'm sorry if this review isn't as complex as it should have been . I had planned to make it very analytical but I'm not really in the mood since I spent the afternoon seeing a real life horror show coming out of a school in Southern Russia where as many as several hundred schoolchildren have been murdered or mutilated by terrorists . The only happy story I have heard today is that some of the fleeing terrorists were beaten to death by Russian mobs . I'm not proud of these feelings