Layla M.

Youth rebellion comes in many different shapes and forms. Ranting against stodgy, conservative parents, refusal to conform to society's expectations or just desire to be original and stand out. "Layla M." is a movie about a Dutch teenager angry at racism, who embraces Islamic fundamentalism, shocking her moderate parents. It all has to end in tragedy, but the question of re-integration to society after being radicalized by ISIS stays open. Some mistakes are harder to forgive than others, and some, perhaps shouldn't be.

No time is wasted in establishing that our title character knows where she stands politically. It is easy to feel sorry for her situation and empathize how one can be seduced by the rhetoric of radicals when you are helpless against law enforcement, stupid people and your own parents.

She never seems like more than a child as she dives into the world political activism only to find reality does not always meet expectation.

The breezy efficient tone make this palatable that isn't a comedy but know how to time itself. A TV series of this story would just feel like a chore.

A simple cycle of inspiration and disillusionment within earshot of a more complicated world but this is definitely about the personal journey and how our politics is often more about reacting to ourselves than to the world.

My favorite scene is Layla playing soccer with the children.

If you are fascinated by the process of how people in the developed world are jihadized then you'll be disappointed but this was definitely made with an agenda and that was to humanize, without apologism, a certain kind of person who we are punishing greatly for understandable errors.

Treads the water on exposing both Islamophopia and the tendency of Muslims living in the western world to radicalize and fundamentalize under that stress, within the context of ISIS and controversial political leaders such as the Dutch Geert Wilders and the American president Donald Trump. A tricky subject that I thought was handled quite excellently in this Dutch film. Good character study and a great performance by Nora El Koussour.

I wish that some of the characters had been a bit more fleshed out, such as the father played by Mohammed Azaay and the husband played by Ilias Addab. A good foreign film that tackles a timely topic.

We can find this kind of feature in France from time to time. Daring social movie showing the Muslim extremist danger for our society. It shows very well how an ordinary Morocco descent young woman gets involved with Djihad groups. A highly modern scheme which makes you deeply think without any clichés, from the Inside. It shows you how it works. Then you make your own opinion. Period. The female director gave us the perfect job. Saw it on Netflix.

At a time of the ISIS raucous war in the Middle East, a Muslim teen with a strong identity falls prey to Jiddahists, trading her confortable life in a working decent family in The Netherlands for an unknown future. Strong character but naive beliefs do the rest. Modest production, conveys the idea and tells a lesson