The Dissident | |
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Directed by | Bryan Fogel |
Produced by |
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Cinematography | Jake Swantko |
Edited by |
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Music by | Adam Peters |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Briarcliff Entertainment |
Release dates |
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Running time | 119 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Languages |
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Box office | $92,688 [2] |
The Dissident is a 2020 American documentary film directed and produced by Bryan Fogel. It follows the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia's effort to control international dissent.
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2020. It was released in a limited release on December 25, 2020, followed by video on demand on January 8, 2021, by Briarcliff Entertainment.
The film follows the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia's effort to control international dissent. [3] [4] Central to the documentary is the story of the Saudi activist and video blogger, Omar Abdulaziz. [5]
According to Bryan Fogel, the movie's aim is to look "deeply into Khashoggi's murder and the ramifications of it." [6] While a CIA report released by the Biden administration implicated Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in the death of Khashoggi, [7] Fogel believes the prince will never face an Interpol arrest warrant or formal investigation considering the vast amount of wealth he owns. [8]
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2020. [9] In September 2020, Briarcliff Entertainment acquired distribution rights to the film. [10] It was released in a limited release on December 25, 2020, followed by video on demand on January 8, 2021. [11]
The film struggled to find a distributor for eight months and was not able to run on a large streaming platform like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video. It is widely believed this was due to those platforms' fear of offending the Saudi Arabian government and possibly losing subscribers. [12] [13]
Fogel showed disappointment at The Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos’ decision to acquire UAE e-commerce site Souq.com shortly after he refused to release The Dissident on Amazon Prime Video. [14]
In its first weekend of home release, the film was the third-most rented title at the iTunes Store and eighth on Apple TV. [15] [16]
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 96% based on 93 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "The Dissident offers little catharsis in its unflinching look at a grisly murder—and gives no quarter in its forceful reminder of the fragility of free speech." [17] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". [18]
Jordan Hoffman of Screen International gave the film a positive review, writing: "The Dissident holds few new revelations but presents its case with enough infuriating evidence and storytelling power to make it worthwhile. [19] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "Fogel's investigation is vigorous, deep and comprehensive." [20] Owen Gleiberman, reviewing the film in Variety, called it "an eye-opening thriller brew of corruption, cover-up, and real-world courage." [21]
Joseph Fahima of Middle East Eye gave the documentary a negative review, qualifying it as an "over-polished piece, which intentionally omits the less flattering aspects of [Khashoggi] story to deliver a more marketable product" and criticizing that the "theatrical tone prioritises atmosphere, emotional engagement, and mundane cinematic flourishes over well-rounded truth". [22]
The filmmakers told The Washington Post that they believed trolls operating on behalf of the Saudi government created a false sense of popular disapproval of the film by flooding the review sites Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb. [23] Tiyson Reynolds from Rotten Tomatoes said "it appears that there have been deliberate attempts to manipulate the movie's audience score". [24]
Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
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ACE Eddie Awards | April 17, 2021 | Best Edited Documentary (Feature) | Scott D. Hanson, James Leche, Wyatt Rogowski, and Avner Shiloah | Nominated | [25] |
British Academy Film Awards | April 10–11, 2021 | Best Documentary | Bryan Fogel, Thor Halvorssen, Mark Monroe, and Jake Swantko | Nominated | [26] |
Cinema Eye Honors | March 9, 2021 | Outstanding Production | Bryan Fogel, Thor Halvorssen, Mark Monroe, and Jake Swantko | Nominated | [27] |
Cinema for Peace Awards | Award for Justice | The Dissident | Won | [28] | |
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association | February 11, 2021 | Best Documentary Film | The Dissident | 4th place | [29] |
Detroit Film Critics Society | March 8, 2021 | Best Documentary | The Dissident | Nominated | [30] |
Dublin International Film Festival | March 14, 2021 | Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) Human Rights Film Award | The Dissident | Won | [31] [32] |
Special Jury Prize | The Dissident | Won | |||
Georgia Film Critics Association | March 12, 2021 | Best Documentary Film | The Dissident | Nominated | [33] |
Satellite Awards | February 15, 2021 | Best Motion Picture, Documentary | The Dissident | Nominated | [34] |
Writers Guild of America Awards | March 21, 2021 | Best Documentary Screenplay | Mark Monroe and Bryan Fogel | Won | [35] |
Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist, dissident, author, columnist for Middle East Eye and The Washington Post, and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel who was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 by agents of the Saudi government at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Bryan Fogel is an American film director, producer, author, playwright, speaker and human rights activist, best known for the 2017 documentary Icarus, which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 90th Academy Awards in 2018.
Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, also known by his initials MBS or MbS, is Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia. He is the seventh son of King Salman of Saudi Arabia and grandson of the nation's founder, King Abdulaziz.
Richard Rowley is a documentary filmmaker. His films and TV shows have received three Emmy awards, an Oscar nomination, and other awards and nominations, as well as recognition at film festivals around the world.
Icarus is a 2017 American documentary film by Bryan Fogel. It chronicles Fogel's exploration of the option of doping to win an amateur cycling race and happening upon a major international doping scandal when he asks for the help of Grigory Rodchenkov, the head of the Russian anti-doping laboratory. It premiered at Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2017, and was awarded the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award. Netflix acquired the distribution rights and released Icarus globally on August 4, 2017. At the 90th Academy Awards, the film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
On 2 October 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident journalist, was killed by agents of the Saudi government at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Khashoggi was ambushed and strangled by a 15-member squad of Saudi operatives. His body was dismembered and disposed of in some way that was never publicly revealed. The consulate had been secretly bugged by the Turkish government and Khashoggi's final moments were captured in audio recordings, transcripts of which were subsequently made public.
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Omar Abdulaziz Al-Zahrani is a Saudi Arabian dissident video blogger and activist living in exile in Montreal, Canada. He was close friends and worked with Jamal Khashoggi, as recounted in the film The Dissident (2020). He is a member of the National Assembly Party.
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