The Hamburg Cell (2004)

A fictionalized account of the September 11 hijackers.

Director:

Antonia Bird

Writers:

Ronan Bennett, Alice Perman

Stars:

Karim Saleh, Maral Kamel, Agni Scott

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Karim Saleh	...	Ziad Jarrah
Maral Kamel	...	Mohammed Atta (as Kamel)
Agni Scott	...	Aysel (as Agni Tsangaridou)
Omar Berdouni	...	Ramzi bin al Shibh
Adnan Maral	...	Marwan Shehhi
Kamel Boutros	...	Mohammed Atta (as Kamel)
Tamer Doghem	...	Zacarias Moussaoui
Khalid Laith	...	Abdul Aziz AlOmari
Nasser Memarzia	...	Assem
Omar El-Saeidi	...	Said al Ghamdi
Bassem Breish	...	Yasser
Mark Clifton	...	Flight Simulation Instructor
Navid Navid	...	Salim (as Navíd Akhavan)
Joel Kirby	...	FBI Agent
Clayton Nemrow	...	Pan Am Instructor

Storyline

Ziad Jarrah, a young Lebonese man from a good family goes to Germany to attend college and starts dating a Turkish girl named Aysel. Although not very religious and accustomed to Western ways, Ziad becomes "brothers" with some fundamentalist Muslims and is slowly drawn into becoming "a Good Muslim". Mohamed Atta and others instill Ziad with a hatred of Jews and "Infidels", which leads to a desire for Jihad and martyrdom. He moves to Hamburg to study aeronautical engineering, attends an Al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, and deceives his girlfriend and family about his involvement. He eventually attends flight school in Florida with Atta and others, waiting for and preparing for "the big wedding" (the 9/11 attack). Meanwhile, US government and law enforcement officials fail to act despite believing that a major terrorist attack is imminent, and despite noticing a number of suspicious persons involved in flight training.

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Plot Keywords:

muslim | terrorist | martyrdom | flight school | hijacker | 

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English Arabic German

Release Date:

10 January 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

A hamburgi sejt

Filming Locations:

Central Station, St. Georg, Hamburg, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mentorn Television,Inner Circle Pictures GmbH,Wildgaze Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When one of the hijackers looks into the cockpit he sees one of the pilots in the right seat who is wearing four stripes. Four stripes means Captain, and he sits in the left seat, not right.

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Quotes

Ziad Jarrah: [On a cell phone] I'm at the departure lounge.
Marwan Shehhi: Me too.
Ziad Jarrah: Our time has come at last...

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Soundtracks

Dramarama
Written by Nick Phillips
Performed by Boxsaga

User Reviews

A Very Intriguing and Gripping Film

I am an American who thinks that all Americans should see this film. It was just shown on HBO On Demand and I accidentally ran across it on the listing and wonder what is was about. I see nothing offensive by anything in the movie. I don't see where you would necessarily sympathize with any of the terrorists. I don't believe that was the purpose of the film. I believe the purpose of the film was to show you how someone could easily be influenced and "brainwashed" in believing what apparently Ziad Jarrah chose to believe. (By the way, I though Karim Saleh's portrayal of Ziad was excellent).

Look back at history - Jim Jones, David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, etc. - they were all brainwashing murderers and were very good at convincing people what to believe! If Americans were not offended by any of these individuals, then they shouldn't be offended by this movie.

I do believe it was sad how Ziad, who at the beginning of the movie was just an ordinary young man and was so easily turned into a terrorist.

The reason I say all Americans should see this movie is because I believe so many people are even beginning to forget 9/11. I don't - there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of what happened. I could never understand how someone could hate so much and were told that they would go to heaven by doing what they did. The movie made me understand how their minds work.

I will probably purchase the movie and save it for my grandchildren. My youngest grandson was born on 9/11/01 and I have saved everything I can so he will one day understand the significance of his birthday.

I give this movie, writers, producers and especially actors (since it must have been a hard role to portray) a "thumbs up". I hope other Americans watch this and can truly see what the film is all about - not sympathizing with the terrorist but giving a hard look into the terrorists' minds.

This is just one American's view.