Greetings again from the darkness. When we think of terrorist groups, we usually visualize a shadowy, faceless group, all dressed in black, while carrying out some unspeakable act of violence. Director Anthony Wonke and writer Richard Kerbaj take a completely different approach - one we haven't really seen before. This is a personal profile of one of the worst terrorists of all time, as well as a look at the marketing that goes into ISIS recruiting, and the international intelligence used to track the most organized of the terrorist groups.

Masked men in movies and TV shows are typically the bad guys - think cattle rustlers and bank robbers. In these stories, a covered face is often the mark of person evil enough to wreak havoc, yet cowardly enough to avoid being identified. In real life, it's pretty much the same. The world was horrified in 2014 when terrorists began beheading hostages and posting the video on social media. The executioner was cloaked in black and, you guessed it, his face was covered. His organization was identified as ISIS: Islamic State of Iran and Syria.

British Intelligence agents are quite forthcoming as they explain that although al-Qaeda was well known at the time, ISIS/ISIL was a new "brand", and a horrific one at that. The British Intelligence agents also let us know that despite not being able to see the executioner's face, they were able to identify him by his hands and voice as Mohammed Enwazi, a British Arab, degreed in Information Systems, and a previous 'person of interest'. It was chilling to see the first video and the ones to follow. The hostage was required to read a prepared statement and then the execution was carried out. The international news media nicknamed the executioner Jihadi John after learning the hostages were referring to the four ISIS hostages with British accents as "The Beatles".

The film dives into Enwazi's background as a kid. It seemed to be a relatively normal childhood of a youngster who enjoyed sports and pop music. We learn that officials had identified him as a risk, and had tried to convert him to working for the country rather than transitioning to ISIS. It's fascinating to learn of his influencers. We hear directly from one of his teachers, and also from hostages and the family members of those tragically impacted by the executions.

A widespread propaganda machine is exposed - the surgical target marketing efforts used by ISIS, including recruiting videos for specific sub-sets. The organization was well funded and well-structured, making it all the more dangerous. A religious backlash occurred and we learn that many in British and American intelligence circles view the takedown of ISIS as a personal mission. The incredible and devastating video clips include the precision drone strike in Syria that ended the run of Jihadi John. And for a moment, the world had a bit less evil.

There's no mention in this film about the role America has played in the Middle East. It hasn't dawned on any of the writers/producers of this film to include the trumped-up blame on hapless Saddam and Iraq. So we bombed the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan and Yemen and Syria (some of the total of 76 countries we have either invaded, bombed, or arranged for regime change since World War II). When you kill the mothers, sisters, daughters, sons, fathers, and children in a country -- people tend to want to exact revenge for their anguish. But America discounts the sins of America and blames any country (that's convenient or that has resources we want) and away we go on forever wars. We are not the heroes of this story nor the victims. We start stuff and then are surprised when things go to hell. America will not be remembered well when the real history of the world is written.

"Unmasking Jihadi John: Anatomy of a Terrorist" (2019 release; 98 min.) is a documentary about the infamous Kuwaiti-born, British-raised Mohammed Emwazi who eventually became known as "Jihadi John". As the documentary opens, we see footage of the erstwhile elusive terrorist who now brazenly makes videos of his brutal murders and killings. Based on those videos (and the guy's size, hands, and voice),the British authorities are able to identify him "within hours", according to a British intelligence officer. We then go back in time, and get a quick overview of Mohammed's life, including his struggles at school in Britain (his family moved there when he was just 6). All the while we are seeking clues on how Mohammed pivoted towards becoming one of the most notorious terrorists ever (and that is saying something)... At this point we are 10 min. into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from British director Anthony Wonke, who has within his body of documentaries carved out a sub-specialty on the Middle East, check out in particular his 2014 widely acclaimed documentary "Children on the Frontline - Syria". This time around, Wonke examines the origins of both Jihadi John ("What drives a person to become a terrorist?", someone asks. Turns out the answer to that is very complicated and nuanced),and also the origins of ISIS (Gen. Petraeus wryly comments: "the US detention camps in Iraq"). Wonke puts it all into context, almost at a point of providing too much information is this 100 min. setting. I simply couldn't keep up with the many (Arabic, and hence unfamiliar) names that Wonke and the many talking heads in this documentary throw out there. In the end, the overall tone of this documentary is very sobering, and drives home the point once again how incredibly complex the situation is in the Middle East, and in particular in Syria and Iraq (not that other places like Afghanistan and Somalia are that much easier). But beware, this is not the type of documentary where at its conclusion you go "well that was fun!"...

"Unmasking Jihadi John: Anatomy of a Terrorist" premiered earlier this week on HBO (where I saw it). If you are in the mood for an ambitious and sobering documentary about ISIS and one man's journey becoming a brutal terrorist-killer, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.