The first rule of journalism is to observe and document, nothing else. This is exactly what this little docu does, and even if that should be a doh, some topics makes it extremely difficult.
We're in Afghanistan on one of the key Qhuran school that has seen religious education of thousands of holy-warriors-slash-terrorists, given one's preference. A now infamous university that has provided leaders and soldiers to the Taleban and others.
The Western film crew does the only right thing: No pointing fingers, no silly conclusions from a speaker; in fact, not a single member of the crew is seen or heard through the film. The only people that tells the story are the teachers and students of this somewhat peculiar educational facility. All of them men and boys, mind you. All of them being surprisingly frank about their personal motives and dreams. And fears and hates.
Strong images are those of a teenager dedicated since age 8 to become a Mullah, or a 23 year old super student that is extremely well-informed on the political world, or a mass gathering of thousands (again, only men and boys) with speaker after speaker screaming and yelling their hatred towards the decadent life of USA and the West in general.
So what do you get out of hearing these people tell their stories? Well... Something is definitely wrong in the Orient. You understand just how important it is to keep politics and religion apart, now faced with the alternative.
The tragic is, that these people are just victims of a well-meaning, but astray tradition that down through history has proved to suffocating itself. If one is not to become anti-Islamic, one has to constantly compare a religious school such as this with various Christian monasteries from 1000 years back. No separation of God and government, memorize the Book, it can never be wrong. In the midst of these theological discussions about how Islam can't possibly separate religion and politics, you get the feeling that Islam is in a desperate need of reform. Christianity reformed in the 1400's, and the Christian sphere has prospered by it ever since.
But who's to tell that to muslims such as these? A pork eater like me? In their world, I'm in the Satanic alliance with Bush and Blair and Musharraf. Watching Children of Allah makes you wish for a Luther to these people. But where's he supposed to come from, when the Muslim world has such a perfect enemy in their face to blind them from the need to reform?
We're in Afghanistan on one of the key Qhuran school that has seen religious education of thousands of holy-warriors-slash-terrorists, given one's preference. A now infamous university that has provided leaders and soldiers to the Taleban and others.
The Western film crew does the only right thing: No pointing fingers, no silly conclusions from a speaker; in fact, not a single member of the crew is seen or heard through the film. The only people that tells the story are the teachers and students of this somewhat peculiar educational facility. All of them men and boys, mind you. All of them being surprisingly frank about their personal motives and dreams. And fears and hates.
Strong images are those of a teenager dedicated since age 8 to become a Mullah, or a 23 year old super student that is extremely well-informed on the political world, or a mass gathering of thousands (again, only men and boys) with speaker after speaker screaming and yelling their hatred towards the decadent life of USA and the West in general.
So what do you get out of hearing these people tell their stories? Well... Something is definitely wrong in the Orient. You understand just how important it is to keep politics and religion apart, now faced with the alternative.
The tragic is, that these people are just victims of a well-meaning, but astray tradition that down through history has proved to suffocating itself. If one is not to become anti-Islamic, one has to constantly compare a religious school such as this with various Christian monasteries from 1000 years back. No separation of God and government, memorize the Book, it can never be wrong. In the midst of these theological discussions about how Islam can't possibly separate religion and politics, you get the feeling that Islam is in a desperate need of reform. Christianity reformed in the 1400's, and the Christian sphere has prospered by it ever since.
But who's to tell that to muslims such as these? A pork eater like me? In their world, I'm in the Satanic alliance with Bush and Blair and Musharraf. Watching Children of Allah makes you wish for a Luther to these people. But where's he supposed to come from, when the Muslim world has such a perfect enemy in their face to blind them from the need to reform?