On TV: THE OATH

Coming to POV on September 21: THE OATH

Laura Poitras’ latest film premiered in competition at Sundance this year, where it picked up the Documentary Cinematography Award. It made the festival rounds the rest of the year, appearing at Berlin, SXSW, and in New Directors/New Films, and continued to pick up awards at True/False, Full Frame, Hot Docs, and elsewhere, before it began a theatrical run.

Focused on two brother-in-law protagonists, one seen, the other a “ghost,” represented through letters he writes from prison in Guantanamo Bay, THE OATH reveals an unseen side of Al Qaeda. The stories of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard and driver intertwine to provide a context through which to understand the development of political ideology and the origins and aftermath of 9/11. Attaining unprecedented access into a forbidden world, moreso as a female filmmaker in a gender-segregated culture, Poitras manages to develop a surprisingly natural ease with her subject, resulting in a complex portrait of an organization that’s often over-simplified.

To find out more about the POV screening on PBS, click here.