The War On Terror Continues
FIVE MINARETS IN NEW YORK (DVD)
Showbox Media Group
Release date: November 7th, 2011
Certificate (UK): 15
Running time: 118 minutes
Writer and director: Mahsun Kirmizigül
Producer: Murat Tokat
Cast: Haluk Bilginer, Danny Glover, Gina Gershon, Mahsun Kirmizigül, Robert Patrick, Mustafa Sandal
Since the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in New York during the September 11th attacks, the Muslim world has been vilified by the government and media in the west to advance an agenda based on securing western interests.
In doing so, many have been wrongly held, accused and charged on terror counts without facing trials.
Kurdish singer, songwriter and actor Mahsun Kirmizigül writes and directs Five Minarets in New York. It’s a film which follows two Turkish secret police officers who are sent to New York to arrest Muslim scholar Hadji Gumush (Haluk Bilginer), a man they believe to be a terrorist leader who goes by the name Dajjal and who’s planning an attack on American soil.
Interpol also have an agent, Becker (Robert Patrick), working to bring him in, but Hadji’s wife, Maria (Gina Gershon) and his close friend, Marcus (Danny Glover), are convinced that he’s innocent of these charges. They take him in, but Hadji escapes.
As Interpol bug the family’s home and listen in on their conversations to try and find where Hadji might be hiding, the conversations he has with Marcus lead us to believe that he is in fact innocent. The dialogue in Five Minarets in New York makes it clear that the description ‘Islamic terrorist’ is a contradiction of terms.
ACAR: Terrorism is the most despicable act in the universe.
HADJI: No religion or belief is so disgraceful that it would embrace terror. True Muslims can only be on the side of serenity and peace. Anyone who’s become involved in terrorism is no longer a Muslim.
Its message, while admirable, is also heavy handed and it weighs down the story, keeping it from progressing any further.
The feeling is more like these aren’t really characters but opinions of its writer and director who wants to tell us not only how America has changed since 9/11, but also how the Muslim world has had to deal with an onslaught of persecution similar to that which the Jews face in the 1930’s when synagogues and homes were raided.
It’s high on melodrama and for the issues Kirmizigü aims to cover, it almost seems too ambitious. While Kirmizigü uses every opportunity to show us the Twin Tower-less New York skyline as a reminder of how we got here, by its drawn out end I was wondering the same thing about the film.
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