Young Ahmed

Winners of the Best Director Award at Cannes, the Dardenne brothers have made another gripping film based on real life drama: a young man’s conversion to orthodox Islam and his dream of martyrdom through jihad. Ahmed, a Belgian teenager barely old enough to shave, falls under the spell of a fanatical Imam who finds apostates everywhere, but especially in Ahmed’s teacher. With breathtaking narrative concision, a camera that moves like a scalpel, and Idir Ben Addi’s remarkable performance as a teen zealot, Young Ahmed nails the portrayal of a situation that has bedeviled the West.

Directed and written by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne; 2019; Courtesy of Kino Lorber; Belgium; In French and Arabic with English subtitles; Cast: Idir Ben Addi, Olivier Bonnaud, Myriem Akheddiou, Victoria Bluck. Runtime: 84 min.