Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his home in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - January 13, 2016
Photo / hansmusa, 123RF.com
Comment:
The U3A Cinema Group's July screening is The Dissident (119 mins) directed by Bryan Fogel.
This month's film is a powerful documentary exposing the murder of a fearless journalist who made some people in powerful positions feel uncomfortable. Everyone knows that the Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, was lured into
the Saudi embassy in Istanbul - where Khashoggi was living in self-imposed exile – and within 20 minutes had been brutally murdered. Everyone knows because the Saudi killers made no effort to cover their tracks, so confident were they that they could walk free and return to Saudi Arabia allegedly with the blessing of the crown prince.
Director Bryan Fogel researched this documentary as thoroughly as he did for Icarus, in which Russian doping practices in the last Olympics were laid bare. His meticulous work reveals a host of associated and alarming information.
Nick Allen, in his IMDb review, says: "The revelations that Fogel finds throughout prove the vitality of free speech, and why democracy always needs the outspoken voices of people like Khashoggi, and also Fogel".
