The Oath

Director: Laura Poitras
Theatrical Release Date: May 7, 2010 5:55 AM
Distributor: Zeigeist
Criticwire: B+
On The Web IMDB Entry

Synopsis: From the director of the Oscar-nominated My Country, My Country, The Oath is a spectacularly gripping documentary that unspools like a great political thriller. It’s the cross-cut 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.

trailers & clips

News

HBO and POV Lead Emmy Award Nods For Documentaries

The 32nd Annual Emmy Award nominations for news and documentary were announced this morning, with numerous docs that were favorites on the festival circuit over the last year or two making appearances throughout the nominations.
Read More »

Interviews

New Directors/New Films '10 | “The Oath” Director Laura Poitras On Her Portrait of Post-9/11 U.S

Filmed over a two-year period, The Oath interweaves the stories of Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard (now driving a cab in Yemen), and Salim Hamdan, a Guantanamo Bay prisoner charged with war crimes. Filmmaker Laura Poitras (My Country, My Country, ND/NF 2006) takes us deep inside the w...
Read More »
Sundance ‘10 | “The Oath" Director Laura Poitras On Her Portrait of Post-9/11 America

Director Laura Poitras' documentary "The Oath" is the second installment in a planned trilogy that includes her previous film "My Country, My Country" (2006), which was nominated for an Academy Award, Independent Spirit Award, and Emmy Award. "The Oath," which is screening as part of the Sundance Fi...
Read More »