The Islamic State - Vice

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It's always hard to set aside your own views when reviewing a politically-charged documentary with politics you disagree with. The film in question is 'The Islamic State' by Vice News. The Islamic State is a Sunni jihadist group who formerly had ties to al Qaeda. It has conquered large areas of Iraq and Syria with significant speed, with aims to expand their current powers into a viable Islamic State. The documentary follows soldiers of the IS as they build up institutions in Raqqa, the Hisbah as they enforce harsh Sharia law and an educational doctrine that supports the belief that arming 10year olds with Kalashnikovs has no bad consequence. It is clear that these extremists will stop at nothing to preserve their belief and Vice stopped at nothing to show us this.

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The 43min documentary is a poignant one that gave us access to one of the most inaccessible groups of modern conflict. The film has been viewed over 3million times on youtube showing just how much documentaries about conflict and human interest should very much be shown as part of mainstream television. It seems a travesty that in the face of modern conflict, major world leaders shut off their media outlets to such programming and it could even be construed as a federal crime if the US government wanted to prosecute Vice or its filmmaker Medyan Dairieh as IS gained further media attention and gained a wealth of new media material. Of course, if that happened I hope that public opinion would ensure that the decision would be rebuked as this is one of the most relevant and poignant documentaries I have seen of late and one that should certainly be deemed 'of public interest'. The question should not be 'should we show it to the public', it should be 'do you trust your own citizens with the truth'.

Down to the documentary itself, it is one that is both informative and compelling. The map graphics help us to understand the scale of IS and the voiceover is crafted well to suggest that those who offer up loyal reactions to their harsh Sharia punishments, may not be doing so of their own free well, but merely for their own good. If they speak ill of the Hisbah, they will be punished so of course they are going to compliment their oppressors and champion what they have learned. The voiceover offers us enough as an audience to decide for ourselves, which responses are questionable.

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There are some interesting shots that are offered to us without the support of a voiceover too, allowing us to make up our own minds about the extremist views we witness. Perhaps the most prominent for me, was down by the river where children were washing and swimming. A teacher is introduced, followed by his son. His son seems unsure at first of whether he should say he is from the Islamic state or from his home land...but soon turns to talk of Caliphates, an Islamic state and killing infidels. Coming from such a young boy, it is clear that the messages are enforced young. If the message were just to have their own independent state then I would not have a problem with that, but arming ten year olds with kalashnikovs, murdering innocents, pushing out the Kurds and not allowing citizens the choice, is where that all goes wrong.

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The exclusive images of those young armed boys, of young boys travelling from far away villages to swear to the caliphate. It is a disturbing thing to see. There is a clip of a fourteen yr old boy angrily telling the camera how he will kill all of the infidels and he is not alone in his beliefs... is this what IS' interpretation of their own peaceful religion has come down to?

Vice filmmaker Medyan Dairieh took a risk in entering himself into the territory of filming in the state. Not only placing himself among extremists who deem the West as infidels... but also placing himself in a troubling position in providing the West with the documentary to view. In my opinion, this is what real news is. It is what real documentary is. Documentary is to document and what better document is there than one created within the subject. Dairieh is a brave man and the documented is a poignant and pressing one that anyone and everyone should watch. He gives us access to an inaccessible group of contributors and for that, I think we should applaud. More than that however, we should applaud the restraint of Dairieh in allowing us as an audience, to decide for ourselves what we think of 'The Islamic State'.

You can watch the film here.. remember to like, subscribe to the vice youtube channel and comment.