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...aside from the glitz and glamour, the festival is famous for its political-themed movies, which aren't aimed at your normal popcorn-munching audience. One of the films generating the most buzz this year is The Oath, a hard-hitting documentary about two former jihadists who once worked for Osama bin Laden - his bodyguard and driver. The lives of the two men, related through marriage, go in vastly different directions in the post-Sept. 11 crackdown on terrorism by the U.S. and its allies. (See pictures of movie costumes...
...star" of the film is the former bin Laden bodyguard, Abu Jandal, a jovial, extroverted taxi driver now living in Yemen. After working for bin Laden in Afghanistan in the 1990s, Jandal moved back to Yemen, where he was arrested by authorities in connection with the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000. He was briefly jailed and then made a deal with the Yemeni government to take part in the government's "reintegration" program, trying to persuade young Islamists to give up violence for education. Following the 9/11 attacks, Jandal was interrogated by FBI officials and became...
...Poitras says she set out to make a film about Guantanamo detainees returning to Yemen after being released by the U.S. government, but switched her focus when a Yemeni reporter introduced her to Jandal. The former bodyguard seems like a contradiction in the film: in one scene, he describes how he was shocked to hear about the 9/11 attacks, but in another, he reveals that he had met many of the hijackers in Afghanistan while he was working for bin Laden. He also says he feels responsible and guilty for the imprisonment of his brother-in-law, who does...
...former members of Congress find it so much easier to get along across the aisle after they retire? Interviews with a number of them suggested answers that are sometimes surprising and trends that are daunting. It's not just the obvious political pressures of messaging for re-election, they said, but also the pressures of fundraising and time...
...Former Democratic Representative Dan Glickman, who left Congress in 1995 and went on to lead the Motion Picture Association of America, pointed to the growing pressure of fundraising as a prime factor. Not only must politicians spend more time raising money, but also the need to raise money often distorts the incentives for bipartisanship. "There are not a lot of incentives in the system to solve problems," says Glickman, who noted that segmentation of the media plays a role. "Solving problems is seen as being a kind of weakness, because it means that you have compromised...