The Hamburg Cell (film)

The Hamburg Cell

Company type	Television film
Industry	Film and television
Founded	2004 (2004)
Founder	Antonia Bird (director)
Products	Television docudrama

The Hamburg Cell is a 2004 British-Canadian television docudrama created through a collaboration between Channel 4 and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, with direction by Antonia Bird. The film portrays the establishment of the Hamburg cell, an Islamist extremist group that included the hijackers responsible for the September 11 attacks.<ref> While Mohamed Atta served as the group's leader, the narrative primarily follows Ziad Jarrah, one of the hijackers who harbored reservations about the planned attacks.

Drawing on extensive primary sources such as interviews, unpublished letters, and the official 9/11 Commission Report, the film debuted on August 25, 2004, at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Given its delicate subject matter, it bypassed a theatrical release and was instead broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on September 2, 2004. In the United States, it premiered on HBO on January 10, 2005.

Plot

The movie begins with Ziad Jarrah preparing to board United Airlines Flight 93. Just before boarding, he places a call to his Turkish spouse, Aysel Senguen, expressing his love. The narrative then shifts back five years to Greifswald, Germany, where Jarrah, hailing from an affluent Lebanese family with a Christian education, embarks on his university studies. There, he encounters Abdulrahman Al-Makhadi, who leads Islamic prayers; at this time, Jarrah identifies as a non-observant Muslim. He also starts dating Aysel, who is studying dentistry.

Jarrah regularly attends Al-Makhadi's gatherings, where he hears about Muslim suffering in Serbia and the concept of jihad as an obligation. When Aysel moves to Bochum to pursue medical studies, Jarrah relocates to Hamburg and becomes more involved with the mosque community, gradually leaning toward radicalization. It is there that he meets Mohamed Atta, a Muslim already deeply radicalized under the influence of Ramzi bin al-Shibh.

As Jarrah adopts stricter religious practices, tensions grow between him and Aysel. Alongside Atta, he undergoes training in Afghanistan as a member of Al-Qaeda. Upon returning to Germany, his family urges him to renounce jihadist activities. Jarrah attempts to reassure them by stating that he plans to move to Florida for pilot training, signaling a break from extremist circles.

In the United States, where plans for the September 11 hijackings are underway, Jarrah finds himself torn between the allure of Western culture and Atta's rigid ideological stance.

Cast

• Karim Saleh as Ziad Jarrah
• Maral Kamel as Mohamed Atta
• Agni Scott as Aysel Senguen
• Omar Berdouni as Ramzi bin al-Shibh
• Adnan Maral as Marwan al-Shehhi
• Tamer Doghem as Zacarias Moussaoui
• Khalid Laith as Abdulaziz al-Omari
• Alexander Siddig as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
• Kammy Darweish as Abdulrahman Al-Makhadi

Critical reception

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian observed that director Antonia Bird along with screenwriters Ronan Bennett and Alice Pearman took an innovative approach by depicting the 9/11 hijackers without glamorization, presenting a subdued drama-documentary style. Empire commended the film for contributing to a deeper understanding of the perspectives behind the 'war on terror.' The Telegraph described it as a "bold and significant film" that eschews melodramatic elements while illustrating the transformation of a secular student into a terrorist through indoctrination.

Derek Elley from Variety emphasized the film’s impactful portrayal of Jarrah’s acceptance of deceiving those close to him as part of his commitment, although he noted that certain motivations were not fully explored in the script. Allan Hunter of Screen International found the film engaging but felt that blending archival footage with dramatic scenes blurred factual boundaries, resulting in an uneasy viewing experience. While acknowledging its courage, Hunter questioned whether it provided more insight than conventional documentaries.

Home media

The film was made available on DVD on 14 November 2006 through Acorn Media.

See also

• United 93, released in 2006
• World Trade Center, also from 2006
• Zero Dark Thirty, issued in 2012

Further reading

• Bennett, Ronan (August 22, 2024). "Inside the mind of a terrorist". The Guardian.
• Cettl, Robert (2009). Terrorism in American Cinema: An Analytical Filmography, 1960-2008. McFarland. pp. 140-141.
• "New Film on 9/11 Terrorists Looks at Hamburg Cell" (September 6, 2004). DW News.
• Riddell, Peter G. (October 2004). "The Hamburg Cell". Third Way. Vol. 27, Issue 8, p. 32.

External links

• The Hamburg Cell — An exceptional and overlooked depiction of fanaticism and modernity related to 9/11