Shamima Begum and Hoda Muthana made it into worldwide headlines when they left their countries as teenagers to join ISIS. Now they want to return but their countries don’t want them back.
“The Return: Life After ISIS” focuses on the young women who made global headlines for fleeing their native countries to become brides for the infamous terrorist group. Filmmaker Alba Sotorra began documenting after ISIS was temporarily defeated in their last Syrian stronghold of Baghouz, led by Kurdish and American forces. After the Caliphate’s strategic loss, the women were interned in the Kurdish-run Camp Roj within the Al-Hawl Refugee Camp in Northeastern-Syria. I actually described this camp in my prior review for “Sabaya,” the masterpiece by Hogir Hirori that focused on Yazidi women being forced into slavery. Seavina, a Kurdish women’s rights activist, runs a program in the camp that attempts to understand and possibly rehabilitate the women.
Director Alba Sotorra focuses mainly on the lives of Shamima Begum and Hoda Muthana. Shamima fled the UK for Syria when she was only fifteen, leaving behind an unhappy home. Hoda infamously made headlines for encouraging Twitter followers to join the Islamic State which caused former-President Trump to revoke her citizenship. Both girls were outraged over the Syrian War and felt compelled to help from a place of misguided morality and they regret their impulsive adolescent choices. Other women from the Netherlands, Germany, and Canada are interviewed and they describe the xenophobic atmosphere of their native countries made an Islamic state seem like a rightful place for their beliefs. Once they arrived in Syria, some were repeatedly forced into marriages while all of them endured squalid living conditions. The intimate confessions by the women were heart-wrenching and completely changed my view of their world that I know so little about.
Nearly half of the documentary’s all-female crew suffered personal losses from ISIS. It’s incredible to witness a search for potential healing by understanding and listening. The crew filmed for over two years and superbly captured the women’s lives, feelings, and moments of levity displaying their resilience in the face of calamity. Scenes showing the thousands of children and women displaced by war are a reminder that there’s a whole generation growing up in internment camps that will have long-term negative effects. Hopefully, the powerful nations that caused this disaster will help solve it.
“The Return: Life AFter Isis” recently had its World Premiere at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival
