(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Dugma – The Button
Director and photo: Pål Refsdal
Dugma – The Button draws a surprisingly intimate portrait of two volunteer front fighters as they await their turn on the list of martyrs who will drive an explosive truck toward the enemy and press the shutter button – in Arabic called "dugma". These are the 32-year-old Saudi Abu Quawara al-Maki and Lucas Kinney, an 26-year-old convert from West London who now goes by the name Abu Basir al-Britani. Refsdal's new film is not only remarkable because of the open access he has had to the young men, but because it shows them as partly ordinary and not least sympathetic people.
Required ransom. But let's take a detour first to shed light on the director's work: "I thank the authorities, they did a great job that I didn't know about when I was kidnapped." This is how Pål Refsdal (according to Nettavisen November 16.11.09, 2009) opened a press conference in November XNUMX , in the wake of being kidnapped by a Taliban-allied group earlier that month when he was in Afghanistan to make a documentary.
Refsdal had previously been to Afghanistan as a 21-year-old when he participated in the Mujahedin's fighting against the Soviet forces in 1985. Later, as a journalist, he often sought out dangerous areas of conflict, including El Salvador, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Kosovo and Chechnya.
After six days as a prisoner of the Taliban group, Refsdal was released. It was speculated that this was due to his conversion to Islam, but it was also claimed that it was because the Norwegian was demonstrably a journalist, not a spy. The kidnappers, for their part, seemed to have been motivated by ransom, with an initial claim of 500 dollars – which Refsdal himself negotiated down to 000 dollars. But Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were clear in their statements that the Norwegian authorities on principle would not comply with the demand for ransom.
The said giant job the authorities started to get Refsdal released should have involved about fifty people. In retrospect, however, the Foreign Ministry decided not to make financial claims against Refsdal, despite being kidnapped in a province he should have been advised not to travel to by the Norwegian embassy in Kabul.
Among the many people involved in the release process was producer Kjetil Johnsen from the company November Film. As Refsdal's employer, he was given a central role in this work, where he was to be present during the extradition in Afghanistan.
Hidden footage. Naturally, there was never any of the movie with a working title On the other side, which Refsdal was in Afghanistan to create. At least not in its original intended form. In October 2010, however, came the Brennpunkt documentary Kidnapped by the Taliban, directed by Refsdal and Aksel Storstein, and produced by Johnsen from November Film. The film contains, among other things, hidden footage of conversations Johnsen had with the Norwegian authorities during the process of releasing Refsdal, where ransom is talked about as an opportunity. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs complained about the program to the Press's Academic Committee, on the basis that Johnsen was involved as a Refsdal employer, but at the same time acted as a journalist – and made hidden recordings of the talks with the crisis team.
In the end, no ransom has been paid, which is evident in the television documentary. But one can question the necessity of publishing the internal conversations that were made during this process. There is, of course, a danger that sharing such information may limit the Norwegian authorities 'ability to resolve subsequent kidnapping cases – in addition to the obvious that it can have very negative consequences if given the impression that ransom payments may actually occur, despite the authorities' official position on this. The PFU then also upheld the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' complaint, and felt that NRK had broken good press practice by showing the documentary (which is otherwise available indefinitely at Nrk.no).
Refsdal's fearless efforts have undeniably resulted in a strong documentary that could not have been made from a safe distance.
In other words, it is with a not very good taste that one looks back at Pål Refsdal's thanks to the authorities during the said press conference, in light of how he and producer Johnsen actually chose to show their gratitude. Which also stands in some contrast to how the Norwegian and international media invariably followed the Foreign Ministry's request not to mention the kidnapping as long as the work to release him went on.
Back in the war zone. The kidnapping also does not appear to have deterred Refsdal from seeking out war zones as a journalist. And good is that. In his new documentary Dugma – The Button he has traveled to Syria, which is currently the world's deadliest country to stay in for Refsdal's occupational group. (According to the Committee to Protect Journalists organization, as many as 91 journalists have been killed in Syria since 2012.) Here he has followed a group of suicide bombers from Al Qaeda's Nusra front, through six weeks on one trip in December 2014 and one in May-June. last year.
This time, Refsdal has also switched producer from November Film to Media Operators by Ingvil Giske, which is probably a wise choice.
With permission. When Refsdal has now sought out a group that is considered a terrorist organization by the US and the EU, it is of course not without the risk of being kidnapped again. However, the Norwegian filmmaker has told Newsweek that Nusra is indeed kidnapping or arresting people, but in that case these people have entered their area without permission. He himself had been approved of what he refers to as a "job application" to Nusra, to travel to the rebel-held part of Syria to film the warriors there. Apparently without any censorship, except that he was asked not to film certain individuals or exterior pictures of the houses.
However, one can point out that protection laws were also provided when Refsdal was invited to the Taliban in 2009, without preventing a "cowboy" in the group from kidnapping him. But this time nothing similar happened, and Refsdal's fearless efforts have undeniably resulted in a strong documentary that couldn't have been made at a safe distance.
The combination of human portraits with an insight into the fanatical fallacies behind the decision to give their life to a holy war makes Dugme into an important movie.
foreign Fighters. Several documentaries have been made about people who can be recruited as foreign warriors, including Deeyah Kahn's JIHAD: A Story of the Others. I recommend both this and British Robb Leech ' My brother, the terrorist, which is about the director's own half-brother and his radicalization process (which he previously dealt with in the film My brother, the Islamists). But where Kahn interviews people in the United Kingdom with a jihadist past that they are now distancing from, and Leech seeks radicalization communities in the same country, differ Dugma – The Button stand out just by being present in the war zone with dedicated suicide bombers.
Strong contrasts. Refsdal also alternates between sequences where the protagonists discuss and describe (also in technical detail) the sacred mission in their eyes they have undertaken, and far more trivial moments where, for example, they talk about food. This contrast is further enhanced by several scenes where al-Maki announces a strikingly beautiful singing voice. All the while, however, one feels the tense certainty that the men are primarily waiting to be called out for the final task, which can happen at any time. Al-Maki recounts conversations with his parents about his self-elected martyrdom, and the film also shows that he clearly touched on watching video of his own child – who was born after he left for Syria. Al-Britani marries her side during the period Refsdal followed him, and is further challenged in her call when she is possibly pregnant. But at the same time, his religiously-founded beliefs indicate that he must, of course, be tested, in order to prove the martyr's death worthy.
It is precisely this combination of human portraits with an insight into the fanatical fallacies behind the decision to give their life to a holy war, which makes Dugma – The Button into an important movie. And that shows that Pål Refsdal's strength is not just about dedicating himself to documenting armed conflicts from the inside, but also in his gaze for the people who fight them.
Some of the information about Refsdal's work with Dugma – The Button is taken from Newsweek's article "Inside Al-Qaeda: The Real Lives of Suicide Bombers in Syria" (by Jack Moore, published online February 5).
Dugma – The Button is on display at the European documentary festival Eurodok, which is staged at Cinematheque in Oslo from 9 to 13 March.
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