From the director of the Oscar-nominated My Country, My Country, The Oath is a gripping documentary that unspools like a political thriller.
The feature cross-cuts the tale of two men whose fateful meeting propelled them on divergent courses with Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, 9/11, Guantanamo Bay Prison and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abu Jandal is a taxi driver in Sana’a, Yemen; his brother-in-law Salim Hamdan is a Guantanamo prisoner and the first man to face the controversial military tribunals.
The men’s intertwined personal trajectories—how they became bin Laden’s bodyguard and driver respectively—act as prisms that serve to explore and contextualize a world that has often confounded Western media.
A 2010 Gotham Award and IDA Award nominee, The Oath is also the winner of six major prizes, including the Sundance Film Festival 2010 Documentary Cinematography Award, the Grand Jury Award at Edinburgh, and Special Jury prizes at Hot Docs and Full Frame.