Moment of Truth: Spend Some Quality Time With Osama bin Laden's Bodyguard

Welcome back to Moment of Truth, Movieline's weekly spotlight on the best in nonfiction cinema. This week we hear from Oscar-nominee Laura Poitras about her new documentary The Oath, which arrives this weekend in limited release.

The oath referred to in the title of Laura Poitras's latest doc is a fairly simple, straightforward one -- a brief pledge sworn by new members upon their induction into al-Qaeda. That's about all that's simple about The Oath, however, which tracks two of those members who've since moved on: Osama bin Laden's former bodyguard Abu Jandal, and his brother-in-law (and bin Laden's former driver) Salim Hamdan.

Following an Iraq expedition that resulted in the Oscar-nominated My Country, My Country, Poitras spent two years traveling between the U.S. and the Yemeni capital of Sana'a, where Abu Jandal drives a taxi and counsels young men about jihad while publicly semi-renouncing his terrorist ties. During the same period, Hamdan made history as the first detainee to legally challenge the legitimacy of military commissions at Guantanamo Bay. Their divergent paths -- and the personal consequences for each -- make for a bracing glimpse of a culture whose complexity we're still struggling to unravel nearly a decade after 9/11.

Films like The Oath certainly help, though, and Poitras talked to Movieline about securing access, establishing trust, winding down her trilogy and what Don DeLillo has to do with it all.

So how does one go about finding Osama bin Laden's ex-bodyguard?

It was not intentional. I was looking to tell a story about Guantanamo, so that was very intentional. But I went to Yemen, and when I was there, I was asked if I wanted to meet Salim Hamdan's family. Salim's case was already famous at that point. The person I was introduced to was Abu Jandal. My mind went through probably the same somersaults that yours did: "Well, wait a second. You're free, you're driving a taxi cab, and you recruited Hamdan?" All those kinds of things were immediately compelling and fascinating and scary. But I also felt it was a story -- with some pretty amazing access -- to be able to understand this world from the inside. So I started filming. But it took a long time to shoot; it took over two years. I met him very early in the trip to Yemen, but I spent over two years going back and forth.

I imagine that trust-building filled up a good chunk of that. How did you establish that trust?

It took a long time -- longer than any film I've worked on. I mean, here's a guy who's worried about a lot of things. When he says he feels in danger, that's very real. He's worried about the Yemen government, he's worried about the U.S. government. It did take a long time to build trust and get the access. I think it was partly due to the fact that I made a film in Iraq -- about the occupation -- that led to get the access.

Both My Country, My Country and The Oath are about men who speak out against tyranny -- both the Americans' and their own countrymen's. What is it about these kinds of lone wolves that appeals to you?

I actually see them as being pretty different, seeing that Dr. Riyadh in My Country, My Country is clearly a heroic character fighting against multiple odds. Abu Jandal is more of an antihero character who is also fighting against multiple sources, but I think he's a little more shifty. What's compelling against them is that they're people who have these strong beliefs that they'll pursue to the end. And as a filmmaker that's very compelling. In my past films, I did always kind of have antihero subplots; I thought the Australians in My Country, My Country were sort of fascinating -- kind of dark, part of a world you don't get to see. I've always found that kind of story really compelling, but this is the first time I've made a film that foregrounded somebody was less heroic, less heroic, but still pretty fascinating.

I love how Abu Jandal says that despite everything, the West manufactures products with "sincerity and conscience." It's like he even applied that tenet to our filmmakers. Do you think he might have believed -- however subconsciously -- that his story required your validation?

I think there might be some truth to that. He saw My Country, My Country, which is a film that tries to inhabit the world of the Iraqi occupation from an Iraqi's perspective. But it's clearly being directed toward an outside audience -- to a U.S. audience. I think that's the reason Dr. Riyadh agreed to participate, which created great risk for him. I also think that Abu Jandal thought that I would not impose on the story and that the audience would be the West. I think that made him willing to participate.

Still, Abu Jandal didn't seem to be especially safe even before he sat for your film. Did you ever sense him digging a bigger hole for himself as you went along?

Yeah, I did. Did you?

Oh, totally.

I think he's constantly trying to set the story straight but making more problems for himself in the process. I do think that what we try to do is set up this psychological portrait of somebody -- there's a mystery there. It's doesn't fully get resolved, but you realize, "OK, he has something to hide." So we were really interested in crafting a story built around that; it takes time to get to the bottom of what motivates him.

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