Britz [DVD]

When this was shown on TV I watched it 3 times within 2 weeks. Above all, it shows how there are 2 sides to this (and to most) situation. It is true to say that whether someone is a terrorist or a freedom fighter is a matter of opinion. clearly the drama does not in anyway justify, or even attempt to justify violence. However, it explores the issues involved with such brave honesty that it does reveal how people can be drawn into violent behaviour, even when their starting position is one of good, ethical and moral motivation.

In real life we need to stop demonising groups of people. To demonise people makes them separate from us. And we will never make a peaceful world by causing factions.

Finally, I think it is probably true that Nasima turned quite quickly from 'good guy' to 'terrorist'. But I found this forgivable because it is a drama, so perhaps we need to allow a few shortcuts as dramatic licence.

The tale of two Muslim siblings, both pulled in different directions. Sohail, proud to be British, joins MI5 and is forced to spy on his own community. His sister, Nasima, driven to despise the British government after her best friend commits suicide, embraces radicallism and heads to Pakistan to train as a suicide bomber.

This certainly does not make for easy viewing, but it does possibly show the alienation and racism many young muslims experience. That said, at no time are you ever made to feel that Nasima's actions are justified. The very minor flaw to this drama is that one doubts if Nasima would really have turned to radicalism or, would instead, have used more traditional routes to protest, having gained some indication of her personality.

That said, this is essential viewing and particularly relevant for these troubled times we live in. It certainly demonstrates that there is no quick fix solution to conflict between extremists and the west.

Just brilliant

Britz is four hours or so of television in two parts. The first tells the story of a young English Muslim, Sohail, who feels that he is the person he is, largely because his parents came to the UK. He tells us that he wants to give something back. He is studying law which gives him (and us) the opportunity to refresh ourselves about the iniquities of the prevention of terrorism legislation. He is then recruited by MI5 which gives us the opportunity to examine those laws in action. The plot is fairly clunky at times, but it is good looking television and the story is intriguing. After two hours we find Sohail at the heart of the follow up to 7/7 and hot on the trail of another active cell of suicide bombers. We have also followed an outline story about the family he has left behind in Yorkshire, centred on his sister, Nasima, who is a medical student.

The next two hours take us back over the same time frame, but now examined from the sister's point of view. This is always going to be difficult to do in a way that keeps the audience's attention because, after all, we feel that we know most of what has what has happened. In the first episode, we are swept along by the development of Sohail and the story. Yes, there are awkward leaps where we are left to imagine what has happened to cause this latest development, but if you are paying attention, it certainly keeps you awake. Sohail's development is highly unlikely but, for the most part, just about credible. Nasima, on the other hand, goes through a series of changes which defy credibility throughout. She is a medical student, so, we hope, has an intelligent and enquiring mind. When confronted with militant Islam at her college however, she lacks the resources to find out what the voice of moderate Islam might be, despite the ease of access through the internet. She seems to undergo a partial conversion to the idea that drastic action is necessary while at the same time she seems to remain sceptical about the religious beliefs of the Muslims who are drawing her into their world. Their acceptance of her into their most secret of worlds also has to be taken with a large pinch of salt. Nasima's personal development as a character lacks any of the thin credibility that helped us to understand Sohail. The holes in the story are many. She tells her family about her relationship with a black British non-Muslim. She must know what their reaction will be. When their reaction comes, she co-operates immediately with their plans, although we are told that this is just a cover to get her into Pakistan. From the point where she tells her parents, the creaking of the plot drowns out any enjoyment. The brother and sister are terrific actors, but the part given to Manjinder Virk is so filled with inconsistencies and contradictions that it is a mountain even she is unable to climb.

Having kept us in our seats for most of the first two hours, the film fails to overcome the problem of how to make the second two hours sufficiently exciting and credible to keep us in its thrall. This sets out to be a film about the alienation of young Muslims in British society. But in four hours of television, the voice of moderate Islam is not audible, while the voices of the British establishment and the Jehadi Islamicists are articulate and clear. And despite the films naked propagandist intention of representing the frustrations of Muslims in the UK, Nasima finally tells us what has been strikingly obvious for far too long, that her motivation is not religion.