‘Rebel’ Review: A Family Caught within the Islamic State’s Snare

Directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, “Rebel” is the uncommon movie about Islamic extremism that options musical numbers. These interludes — with actors rapping and singing à la “Hamilton” — are shot like slick dream sequences, indicative of the sprawling drama’s epic ambitions. Instead “Rebel” is cringe-y and off-putting; a sexual assault is envisioned as a extremely choreographed dance.

The movie’s examinations of the horrors perpetrated by the Islamic State, or ISIS, start in Brussels, the place Kamal (Aboubakr Bensaihi), a Moroccan immigrant and novice rapper, lives together with his mom, Leila (Lubna Azabal), and a doting little brother, Nassim (Amir El Arbi). Disgruntled and directionless, Kamal heads to Syria as a part of a slipshod humanitarian effort to help struggle victims, however nearly instantly he’s kidnapped by ISIS and compelled to function the group’s videographer. Later, with a gun to his head, he’s pushed into changing into an executioner, his crimes captured on digicam and disseminated by news networks again residence.

Nassim, refusing to imagine that his brother has gone rogue, is performed like putty by an extremist henchman in Brussels who brainwashes the boy into becoming a member of the trigger. Only 13, Nassim, too, ships out to Syria the place he joins a gaggle of kid troopers. In the ultimate part of the movie, Leila ventures overseas to seek out her little boy.

At greatest, this drama picks aside the Islamic State’s nefarious recruitment ways, taking over the recent perspective of a Muslim household in Europe. These dynamics are wealthy, and the results agonizing — so it’s too unhealthy the filmmakers appear to assume that the larger the spectacle, the extra powerfully communicated this whirlwind of politics and feelings. The reverse is the case.

Rebel
Not rated. In Arabic, French, English and Dutch, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours quarter-hour. In theaters.