"Unmasking Jihadi John: Anatomy of a Terrorist" (2019 release; 98 min.) is a documentary about the infamous Kuwaiti-born, British-raised Mohammed Emwazi who eventually became known as "Jihadi John". As the documentary opens, we see footage of the erstwhile elusive terrorist who now brazenly makes videos of his brutal murders and killings. Based on those videos (and the guy's size, hands, and voice), the British authorities are able to identify him "within hours", according to a British intelligence officer. We then go back in time, and get a quick overview of Mohammed's life, including his struggles at school in Britain (his family moved there when he was just 6). All the while we are seeking clues on how Mohammed pivoted towards becoming one of the most notorious terrorists ever (and that is saying something)... At this point we are 10 min. into the documentary.
Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from British director Anthony Wonke, who has within his body of documentaries carved out a sub-specialty on the Middle East, check out in particular his 2014 widely acclaimed documentary "Children on the Frontline - Syria". This time around, Wonke examines the origins of both Jihadi John ("What drives a person to become a terrorist?", someone asks. Turns out the answer to that is very complicated and nuanced), and also the origins of ISIS (Gen. Petraeus wryly comments: "the US detention camps in Iraq"). Wonke puts it all into context, almost at a point of providing too much information is this 100 min. setting. I simply couldn't keep up with the many (Arabic, and hence unfamiliar) names that Wonke and the many talking heads in this documentary throw out there. In the end, the overall tone of this documentary is very sobering, and drives home the point once again how incredibly complex the situation is in the Middle East, and in particular in Syria and Iraq (not that other places like Afghanistan and Somalia are that much easier). But beware, this is not the type of documentary where at its conclusion you go "well that was fun!"...
"Unmasking Jihadi John: Anatomy of a Terrorist" premiered earlier this week on HBO (where I saw it). If you are in the mood for an ambitious and sobering documentary about ISIS and one man's journey becoming a brutal terrorist-killer, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.