A scene from Path of Blood (Paladin)

Jonathan Hacker’s eerie collage of a documentary is more than the sum of its parts. It largely consists of video featuring real-life Al Qaeda operatives in Saudi Arabia after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as well as previously unreleased footage from then-Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud’s government and his security forces responding to the terrorist group’s growing threat. The interlacing of these two sets of recordings adds up to a harrowing re-creation of an increasingly devastating conflict.

There is queasiness to the earliest scenes, which feature a group of young Al Qaeda recruits shortly before they leave to commit a suicide bombing. All wear headscarves to conceal their faces, save for one, identified as the soon-to-be driver, whom the camera gradually focuses on. An offscreen voice asks about his religious faith and how it led him to this point, but the young man burns through multiple takes, fumbling his answers, and claiming he does not understand the questions. The sequence borders on the darkly humorous, but then the voice behind the lens becomes harsh, reminding us that the forces responsible for assembling these men mean serious business.

The film constantly walks a fine line between humanizing the terrorist recruits and showing the brutality of their actions. A surprisingly moving section involves the establishment of an Al Qaeda training camp in the desert, which is set up at night during heavy rains. The tents are flooded with water and trainees are thoroughly soaked, yet there is undoubtedly a sense of camaraderie. Scenes of wheelbarrow races and target practice have the feel of a grown-up summer camp.

It’s when the attacks against foreign targets and the Saudi government begin in earnest that the tone becomes far more solemn. At times, the filmmakers seem on the verge of wallowing in carnage, such as their inclusion of a shot of a dead small child. But these moments also serve as reminders of the heavy casualties sustained by the country’s majority Muslim populace. Americans and other Westerners barely appear. Throughout, select readings from a radical publication, Voice of Jihad, consisting of first-person accounts by Al Qaeda operatives, accompany the onscreen actions of the aspiring terrorists. In this way, Hacker projects a sense of anger and bloodlust onto these individuals, who would otherwise remain emotionally distant figures.

Much of the second half centers on a public relations war between Al Qaeda, which launches a wave of propaganda messages arguing that Prince Abdullah’s forces serve the West, and the Saudi regime, which counters through its media offensive discrediting the mujahideen. As both sides play out their hands, each deals in illusion. Al Qaeda’s “official” videos show camps full of hardened, well-trained soldiers, while the seized footage reveals them to be a combination of ambivalent, nervous, and even sentimental. Similarly, the government broadcasts conservative clerics denouncing the terrorists on television, but as we can see for ourselves via behind-the-scenes footage, they were under pressure from crown prince to do so. While there is a juxtaposition of the two efforts, Hacker leaves it to the viewer to decide whether that makes both sides equal, or whether the latter qualifies as heroic in preventing more civilians from losing their lives.

While the media gamesmanship gives Path of Blood its intellectual edge, the scenes of Al Qaeda trainees en route to their objectives provide moments of slowly building dread, as the question of whether they will succeed lingers. There are also intermittent but intense firefights in which the camerawork is understandably chaotic and disorienting. The security forces footage includes some very human moments from first responders who find themselves face-to-face with mass casualties, as well as jaw-dropping ones in which the regime’s heavy artillery is brought to bear, reducing half a building to a column of dust and smoke before our eyes.

The effects of the war on terror on the people and societies of the Middle Eastern often goes unreported, but this unique documentary brings them to light in all their discomfort and viscera.

Path of Blood trailer from Jonathan Hacker on Vimeo.