Path of Blood

Featuring video and phone footage shot by al-Qaeda themselves, this documentary presents an unfiltered view of their deadly terror campaign in Saudi Arabia from 2003 onwards. Under direct orders from Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda set out to destabilise the Saudi regime and somehow turn the kingdom against its Western allies, the resulting carnage laid bare in material retrieved from the terrorists' lairs by state security forces. To some extent, what we see humanises the terrorists, showing how naive young men were turned into ruthless killers through twisted Islamic propaganda, yet their willingness to kill innocent civilians, many of them also Muslims, is shockingly cold-blooded. As Saudi forces respond with bracing forcefulness, the level of bloodletting increases significantly, and the whole awful spectacle offers a salutary reminder that the war on terror is not limited to jihadi zealots attacking the West. Viewers are warned that the film's graphic images are much stronger than broadcast TV standards, and while it's hard to deny the film's truthfulness, it's a definitely a haunting, ugly truth.