Director Deeyah Khan received a barrage of vicious threats from neo-Nazis after being targeted by right wing hate sites. This spurred her on to investigate the movement in more detail - effectively walking into the lion's den. In this documentary, she asks white supremacists and members of the KKK asking a simple question 'Am I your enemy?' Her journey takes her across the United States, including marching with neo-Nazis at the infamous Charlottesville rally, at which protestor Heather Heyer was killed.
Khan has a natural warmth which makes all but the most stubborn of her interviewees warm to her. Her non-confrontational approach slips past the defenses of those she interviews, disorienting and unsettling them in ways that reveal more about them than aggressive questioning ever could. It's a style that refuses to dehumanise its subjects, despite their violent and intolerant beliefs; instead she exposes the same kinds of fear and trauma underlying the hatred in her earlier film Jihad, where she talked to Islamist extremists. As in Jihad, it's often those who have left the group-think of hate movements that provide the deepest insights.
Shocking and moving, this documentary not easy viewing. An essential and sensitive examination of one of the most dangerous political trends of the decade.
Khan has a natural warmth which makes all but the most stubborn of her interviewees warm to her. Her non-confrontational approach slips past the defenses of those she interviews, disorienting and unsettling them in ways that reveal more about them than aggressive questioning ever could. It's a style that refuses to dehumanise its subjects, despite their violent and intolerant beliefs; instead she exposes the same kinds of fear and trauma underlying the hatred in her earlier film Jihad, where she talked to Islamist extremists. As in Jihad, it's often those who have left the group-think of hate movements that provide the deepest insights.
Shocking and moving, this documentary not easy viewing. An essential and sensitive examination of one of the most dangerous political trends of the decade.