On the night of November 13, 2015, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks throughout Paris left 130 people dead and hundreds injured. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which was then in control of large swaths of land in the Middle East, took responsibility for the attacks. A week into the nationwide manhunt for the perpetrators, police had zeroed in and raided an apartment they suspected housed the mastermind behind the attacks. The raid resulted in the death of Hasna Ait Boulahcen, a 26-year-old Frenchwoman of Moroccan descent who friends had described as “living in her own world” until she adopted strict Islamic dress and expressed desires to become a Jihadi in the months leading up to the attacks.

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A devastating portrayal of how personal trauma and social alienation can lead to national tragedy, “You Resemble Me” attempts to look beyond the sensationalized headlines to find the humanity in Hasna Aït Boulahcen.  As a journalist for Vice, director Dina Amer reported on the Paris terrorist attacks in 2015 and was on the scene when the attack’s mastermind, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, died with Hasna in an explosion as police closed in. 

Continue reading ‘You Resemble Me’: A Devastating Portrayal Of Personal Trauma & Social Alienation [Venice Review] at The Playlist.