It's strange to conceive of a documentary as an edge-of-your-seat thriller. After all, the events have already passed; moreover, should the events be of recent memory, the viewer should already know how the movie ends. However, Bryan Fogel's “The Dissident” — a speculative scheme on the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi — is stimulating regardless. In this massive multinational drama juggling state politics, cybersecurity, and the urgency of romantic love, “The Dissident” paints a fuller picture of Khashoggi as not just the state actor or the writer, but also as Khashoggi the man.
“The Dissident” opens in Montreal, Canada. Omar Abdulaziz – later revealed to be one of Khashoggi's correspondents before his death – begins to explain the difficulties of expressing free speech in Saudi Arabia, especially following the rise of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS). The narrative then begins to split into several parallel tales from there. On one hand, there is MBS and his relentless Twitter army, “The Flies.” Not only do they hack personal mobile devices, but they also take advantage of Twitter algorithms to push national agendas to Twitter's #Trending priority. On the other hand, there is Khashoggi – once the proud face of the Saudi government – now alienated in the US in unofficial exile. Khashoggi's predicament only further complicates due to his outspoken nature and his contribution to the Twitter resistance movement, “The Bees.” And then there's Khashoggi's devoted Turkish fiancee, Hadice Cengiz. In order for the two to be married, Khashoggi must procure one more document from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi's active political and romantic life spill into one another to eventually spell out the censorship scandal of 2018: his gruesome execution.
The documentary's multi-thread narrative allows the viewer to connect the dots, albeit with heavily conspiratorial tones. Surprisingly, the drama directly illustrates MBS in the same light as one would document Xi Jinping or Kim Jong-un — as a bored tyrant unable to handle personal criticism. Similar to Fogel's previous documentary on Russian doping at the Olympics, “The Dissident” ruminates upon the musings and temptations of men with great power. And of course, pertinent to 2020, anti-Trump sentiment is definitely visible. For as much as Fogel targets MBS and his anti-free speech policy, Fogel underlines the United States' own incompetence as a state entity to react to the scandal… and instead praises private movements, like that of Abdulaziz's Twitter Bees or even Washington Posts' own Jeff Bezos as primary mouthpieces on Khashoggi's murder.
For as much evidence as the documentary gathers however, there is plainly an absence of said evidence as well. Local testimonials, like that of the Turkish police force and Hadice, seemingly drive a sense of neutrality. However, Fogel takes these accounts at face-value and does not bother to dig deeper into potential political motivation. Furthermore, Fogel's re-imagined Twitter wars — mostly visualized through CGI imagery — regularly isolates specific Tweets and recreates #Trending polls for his argument. In a positive light, one could say that the documentary does make the most of limited information. On the other hand though, the overwhelming presence of visualized cybernetics also reads as a strictly selective Twitter cover-up story. The documentation doesn't simply reveal the truth itself. Instead, Fogel's (American) hand clearly guides the anti-MBS (and borderline anti-Saudi) narrative here.
Hadice's addition to the documentary does, however, provide a delightful dimension to Khashoggi's character. This is where “The Dissident” arguably shines the most. While Hadice has definitely been reduced to a simple romantic object in Khashoggi's life, her mourning develops Khashoggi's presence in his absence. When the documentary contrasts the footage of Khashoggi sitting on his La-Z Boy in their new apartment — pleased at thinking about their future together — with that of the empty chair, Hadice's personal loss is palpable. Her description of Khashoggi as a lonely lover gives him a more sympathetic element. Khashoggi is not simply a political dissident; his complaints are more nuanced as a fighter for the homeland he loves.
When all is said and done, “The Dissident” is as informative and fast-paced as the official synopsis advertises. Though it is definitely questionable in the name of ontological truth, it clearly presents a compelling argument against the MBS' regime. A crucial documentary of our times, “The Dissident” reveals that even the most invincible are vulnerable — not because of their political status, but because of their humanity.
“The Dissident” will be available for North American theatrical release starting 25 December. Available on Apple TV, Prime Video, and on demand everywhere on January 8
