The War Within (2005)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Absolutely Fantastic

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Riveting movie presenting the story of a man becoming an Islamist terrorist after being falsely charged and tortured. But I don't understand the title. I didn't really see the man struggle inside. On the contrary, he seemed to be very determined right from the start and did not seem to have serious doubts at any point. Where's the "war within"? Also, the movie doesn't help a lot to make the viewer understand his motives. Every time he is asked to present his views about the conflict between the Muslim world and the West, he just says "Let's not talk about that", and walks away. And although he writes a letter to his friends explaining his motives, it's still too sketchy and insufficient. Basically he says his Muslim brothers are suffering all over the world, and that's about it. So, although the movie is enjoyable, it remains superficial and lacking.

Just finished watching the movie and was blown away ( no pun intended) by the masterful direction, cinematography, acting and the story. An extremely important movie of our times. A decade from now this movie will be looked as a classical piece of cinema which stood above the rest as it makes every scene and every dialogue relevant in answering "what drives a normal educated person to blow himself up?" This movie neither humanizes nor de-humanizes the suicide bomber, it only shows how one is driven to commit such acts, the motives, the anger and the rage. Myself a Pakistani Canadian, unlike some of my countrymen on this forum I don't feel that this movie stereotypes Pakistanis at all. The message of this movie is bigger than stereotyping or humanizing terrorism, it is an in dept study of the struggles that takes inside a living, breathing human being may that be a Pakistani or an American, hence the title "The War Within". Beautiful movie, one of the finest yet one of the saddest I have seen in a while. 5 stars!

This movie was scary and amazing. It made me realize that we are all immigrants in this beautiful country. And it made me proud to be an American. The Pakistani-American family in this movie are so beautiful. They looked beautiful and they made me feel like they could have been my own family. It made me wonder about my own friends. I can't comment on the politics. Some days I feel like I know exactly what my president is saying and I believe him. Some days I feel like I want to kick him. But whatever the truth is, as far as the politics goes, the bottom line is this movie showed the destruction of a beautiful family for no fault of theirs. And that was so compelling to watch. I highly recommend this movie for all Americans. It will make you remember that ALL our parents came over here to find something better for them and theirs.

This movie features the largest pile of crap I've ever seen piled in one place. None of the 19 Sept. 11 terrorists were abducted and beaten. They did it of their own free will. Same goes for the Madrid, Bali and London terrorists. To make it seem that the US is the cause of the terror problem shows a twisted logic so profound that in belies description.Islamic terrorists are not nice guys fighting for a gentle cause. They want the world ruled under Islamic law.The movies director plainly has stated during interviews that we should have empathy for these devils. Empathy for people who want to kill us for our religious affiliation? Empathy for people who kill fellow Muslims with no more compunction then one has squashing a bug.If the people the director wants to love into submission had their way, the director would find himself dead, along with the rest of the elitist Hollywood types who embody everything the terrorists hate about the West.