Inside Islam

This documentary starts strong, with a decent summary of the complicated early history of Islam and vivid images. That said, this is an unambiguously poor work. The film turns into a fear-heavy op-ed, describing 9/11 as a "culmination" of Islamic anger. In a weak effort at objectivity, the narrator notes that events like Oklahoma City attest to the fact that Islam has "no monopoly on terror." Wow. The film does offer a generally diverse array of Muslim voices, but again falls into the trap of over-simplicity by concluding with an Iraqi-born Muslim man thanking America for restoring his dignity: "I love this country." "I thank God for bringing me to this country so I can feel again that I am a human." The film ends with a narrator reading this cue card: "Some are hopeful that Muslims, Christians, and Jews will be able reestablish a peaceful co-existence, but others aren't so sure, as violence continues, suicide bombers get younger, and death tolls go on rising." For a film that purports to go "Inside Islam" and identifies "seeing each other as stereotypes, rather than as human beings" as a major symptom of today's conflicts, the filmmakers do nothing to show the practical realities of Muslim life today. Instead, we have an uncreative and one dimensional local news piece.

The History Channel's Inside Islam is about the history of Islam in the world. I've watched a few documentaries on Islam and found this one to be the most palatable. Some of the previous ones said things comparable to Islam inventing the internet. While there is no doubt in my mind that many great scholars would choose a religion as depicted in this film, I feel the film is one sided. It actually took to task the fact that Jews, Christians, and Muslims all pray to the same God, so their fighting each other is like brothers who won't talk to each other of some childish spat. I think they should have also compared the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic fundamentalist so it is also obvious that each church has their own zealots. A must watch for most Americans and people who know nothing about Islam but what the press tells them. On second thought, I'm not sure if anyone who trusts the press to get accurate information is intellectually mature enough to get anything out of this film.