“Rebel” offers a violent dive into the horrors of jihadism

In the end credits of rebel, screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival, it is mentioned that the war in Syria is still ongoing. As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine took the spotlight away from the Middle East, Belgian-Moroccan directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah delve into the conflict that has ravaged Syria since 2011.

With a chilling psychological and physical realism, they recount the descent into hell in the throes of jihadism of two young people from North African immigration from the Moleenbek district in Brussels. The two directors at the helm sign a personal film there.

Their story begins in 2013 and tells the story of Kamal (Aboubakr Bensaihi) and his family. This young Belgian of Moroccan origin is a rapper from the Molenbeek district. Revolted by the images of the Syrian conflict that he sees on the news channels, this Muslim decides to go to Syria to help the victims of the war waged by Bashar El Assad’s regime against his people.

In 2014, Kamal’s destiny changes. The rebel faction with which he carries out humanitarian operations in Syria pledges allegiance to the Islamic State, which then extends its control over the north of the country around the city of Raqqa. Horrified by the extreme violence of the men of the Islamic State, Kamal has no choice: he can only participate in the fighting as a cameraman, to feed the jihadist propaganda.

In a magnificent sequence shot, we see Kamal, camera on his shoulder, following the bloodthirsty men in black in the assault on a city held by the army of Bashar El Assad. The essence of war oozes out of this chase against death, in which Kamal panics every time he has to run in the open under enemy fire. His knees are shaking, the bombs make him retreat, advance then retreat again in a ballet guided by the instinct of survival.

Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, regulars in action films (Gangsta, Bad Boys for Life…) manage in this film to go beyond the purely visual side of the battlefield. Their dive into the daily life of jihadists in the city of Raqqa is both shocking and convincing, like this scene on the slave market where women in burqas taken prisoner by the Islamic State are sold to members of the organization. Above all, the directors manage to accurately describe the wide gap between the image built by the Islamic State on social networks and the real life of the men in black in Syria.

“We wanted to tell how romantic and heroic jihad can seem at first sight and how religion is used as a weapon”

Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the directors of “Rebel”

Throughout the film, Kamal’s friends who remained in Molenbeek praise the heroism of their “brother” who has gone into battle. Bosses even congratulate Nassim (Amir El Arbi), Kamal’s 13-year-old brother, for the “exploits” of his eldest. In Raqqa, however, Kamal only dreams of returning home and befriends another jihadist who, like him, wants to flee Syria.

Alas, in the last part of the film, the duo at work behind the camera falls back into the trappings of classic action films by favoring the great spectacle over the narrative framework. We will not reveal anything about the outcome, but the final reversal of the situation seems not very credible and somewhat diminishes the realistic force of rebel.

Gender : action, drama, thriller
Director: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah
Actors: Aboubakr Bensaihi, Amir El Arbi, Younes Bouab
Country : France, Belgium, Luxembourg
Duration : 2h15
Exit : shortly
Distributer : Film Tray

Summary: Kamal decides to go to Syria to help the victims of the war. But when he arrives, he is forced to join an armed group and finds himself stranded in Raqqa. His younger brother Nassim, who dreams of joining him, becomes easy prey for jihad recruiters. Leïla, their mother, then tries to protect her youngest son.