Leila Khaled: Hijacker (2006) User Reviews

What IS a terrorist?

[JasparLamarCrabb · 7/10 · 28 July 2009]

Alternately sad and cringe-inducing, this documentary on the terrorist life of the Palestinian hijacker is always intriguing. Director Lina Makboul, a Palestinian reared in Sweden, digs deeply into the psyche of Khaled (through interviews with the subject herself) to get to the meaning of what her motives were and what her objectives were. No easy answers are found --- and while Khaled does not come across as apologetic, she doesn't come across as the embodiment of evil either. Additionally, Makboul wisely interviews members of the flight crews from the planes Khaled, working for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, hijacked. It's a fair and honest expose.

Just Like Leila Khaled Said

[JohnSeal · 10/10 · 1 March 2009]

Nobody likes a 'terrorist'--but watch this film, and you will have a better understanding of what motivates them. Leila Khaled was born in Palestine in 1944, and--along with hundreds of thousands of other Palestinian Arabs--lost her home in 1948 when Israel came into existence. Exiled throughout the Middle East, the Palestinian people placed their hope in Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, but when the 1967 war ended in disaster, they turned to more radical tactics, including airline hijackings. This utterly riveting documentary, produced for Swedish television, tells the story of Ms. Khaled, the poster girl for the Palestinian liberation movement, who was involved in a pair of hijackings, and who now works on behalf of her people as a member of the Palestinian National Council. For anyone interested in the often byzantine history of Palestine and Israel, this is essential viewing.

An essential documentary

[pottypat · 10/10 · 14 April 2016]

This incredibly well made and very sad documentary is important for anyone who wants to understand what the motivates the Palestinians and been behind all the tragedies that have befallen Palestine and Israel since the Nabka. If you don't and have already a narrow fixed view, it may not. I can only agree with the other reviewers Jasper and John who have put together intelligent and coherent reviews that I can not better. I recommend another documentary, The Gatekeepers. This consists of interviews with the retired heads of Shin Bet, one of whom says that there have been opportunities to resolve the conflict, that have not been seen as politically expedient by Israel's ruling political parties. My mother a survivor lost her entire family in the Holocaust and my view of the nightmare that is the Palestinian Israel conflict, has changed 180 degrees in the last 50 years.

the history in the movie is portrayed badly in favor of the Palestine

[maikelbazov1989 · 1/10 · 27 May 2011]

the historic "facts" are,unfortunately, false and a shame to books of history. the movie comes to portray the terrorists lives, and does so badly, with poor thinking and disinformation on the true events who accord dooring those years............ if you are thinking of becoming a terrorist, and to be fulled with hate and lies, then watch this film....... if you want to use some real power, then grab a book and start learning the truth, and peaceful modern ways to deal with the situation! because i am requested to feel ten lines, i am ordered to writ a Lot of junk just the get the ten kines written, which is very hard because i already finished my review but i am compelled to writ more then is needed.