- A Japanese American filmmaker finds echoes of his own family's World War II internment in post-9/11 arrests of Muslim immigrants and joins the struggle to free Farouk Abdel-Muhti, a Palestinian activist. Farouk organizes resistance among his fellow detainees, incurring abusive retaliation from his captors, as Homeland Security officials investigate the documentary itself, arresting Farouk's son.—Konrad Aderer
- ENEMY ALIEN is a documentary about the fight to free Farouk Abdel-Muhti, a gentle but indomitable Palestinian-born human rights activist detained in a post-9/11 sweep of Muslim immigrants. Told through the eyes of filmmaker Konrad Aderer, the grandson of Japanese Americans interned during World War II, this gripping story takes on unprecedented intimacy and historical resonance Transferred from jail to jail, beaten and interrogated but never charged with a crime, Farouk organizes other immigration detainees in a hunger strike. Resistance brings consequences as Farouk is transferred into solitary confinement, and the documentary itself is obstructed and investigated by counterterrorism officials.
Farouk's quiet charisma creates an indelible impression even through the heavily restricted prison interviews. His remarkable lack of fear or self-concern would almost lead us to forget about the deprivation and abuse he suffers, were it not for the toll it takes on his son Tarek, whom we come to know well through his growing bond with the filmmaker. Its through this pair, sons of the national security detainees of two wars, that we truly feel the roller-coaster developments in this story. After a two-year struggle, Farouk is ultimately freed from detention in a landmark case, only to die from a heart attack just months later.
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