Les fantômes de Sugar Land

This documentary was a good view of what it's like to be a young Muslim in USA after 9/11. Also, the heartbreaking feelings behind "Mark´s" friends masks fill all documentary scenario. However, the documentary has very few substance/information. Indeed, it explains almost nothing about why "Mark" became extremist and why his friends thought he was an FBI spy.

The fear and disbelief in the voices of "Mark's" group of friends, is heartbreaking. A man who clearly did not fit in, ran off to the worst possible location on the planet, just to be part of something bigger. Yet, his friends still have hope, telling themselves he might not be the person they think he was all along. To live in the unknown, trying to protect your loved ones from radicalism, brought upon you by a loved one must be a constant battle with yourself and a country that doesn't want to educate itself to move forward. Short, relevant and dismal.

"Suburban Muslims have to learn to live with the consequences of a close friend's actions." That's the official synopsis, yet the documentary is purely just a pointless discussion among uninformed individuals speculating what happened of the 'close friend', without even exploring anything substantial.

The only thing interesting about this documentary is that the interviewees wear superhero masks - supposedly to 'protect' themselves. That too is rendered pointless as it's not like these people are divulging any sensitive information that would affect themselves negatively. Plus, the ill-fit masks are poor disguises and ultimately ineffective without any voice-modulation.

The whole mask thing just seems like a gimmick to incite our inherent excitement and intrigue of controversial topics.

The documentary fails to inform us audiences about what really happened (how and why the friend became involved with ISIS and its extremism), and the whole topic is guided by the interviewed subjects who themselves are very uninformed and are pointlessly speculating about the friend and his fate.

The filmmakers glossed over several aspects and information that would've made this documentary more interesting, especially about the involvement of FBI informants in American Muslim societies and the possibility of the friend being an informant himself.

How this ended up being a winner at Sundance, I have no idea. At the end, this uninformed documentary doesn't attempt to look deeper into the truth or reveal anything pertaining to case. Neither does it really show how the Muslim Americans are affected by the incident discussed. It'll just make you scratch your head at what the point watching this incredibly short documentary was.

Most of the reviewers who left negative reviews did so because they expected this to be a documentary that vilifies Mark and provides all the saucy and morbid details of everything that they assume he's done. But this documentary is not about that. This documentary is about the hurt that he caused in a community that is already heavily targeted, and how his friends are coping and trying to understand his actions. It touches on how a fairly normal kid can go rogue given the right circumstances and it humanises that fact. After reading some of the reviews it seems that a lot of people are not interested in knowing how terrorism affects Muslim communities in the US, but I found it a very touching and raw account from a perspective we don't often see.

A group of suburban Muslims discuss how their friend got interested in Islamic practices and what led him to convert to Islam.

Ghost of Sugar Land is a short documentary film that was interesting but too brief. The concept of the short documentary would have been executed perfectly if they questioned the group as to why they believe their friend is an FBI informant and give detail on that subject.

Ghost of Sugar Land is a short documentary that was poorly done. A meaningless film that could have been a captivating watch.