The elder brother did not make the Olympic trials not because he was Muslim, but simply because he was not a US citizen. His father probably did not know this when boasting that his son would represent their adopted country in boxing. While the documentary expertly stitches together the footage of events, and testimonies from police, FBI, victims and journalists, it fails to spend enough time scrutinising the parents, who separated and abandoned their sons to return to Dagestan. Why did they return to Dagestan and what about their other two children?
The younger brother was described as charismatic and popular in high school but photos of him revealed an emptiness in his eyes. The charm was nothing more than a facade and survival strategy of someone who was not emotionally nourished by his family or community. It seems no coincidence that the both brothers chose to participate and identify with violent sports, instead of taking up chess or tennis. They were the product of inter-generational trauma that began with their grandfather being persecuted for being Chechen and resulted in their father's narcissism.
The father needed his children to be successful in their new country and pushed both sons to achieve. It was the shame from letting his father down by failing to make the Olympic trials that drove the elder brother to radicalisation. He could not blame his father for having lofty expectations so instead he blamed his adopted country and its Islamophobia, and recruited his own brother to his misguided cause. He could not see the forest for the trees, unlike Danny Meng who is himself a migrant from an oppressive nation and appreciates the opportunities in America in spite of the racism he will inevitably encounter.
