Enemy Alien

Konrad Aderer's documentary looks at two examples of state-sanctioned fear-mongering against a specific demographic: the experiences of the Japanese-American filmmaker's family in the U.S. internment camps during World War II, and the post-9/11 arrest of Palestinian human rights activist Farouk Abdel-Muhti. Aderer argues that both stories feature much common ground: namely, that a military attack against the U.S. resulted in the suspension of civil liberties against minority groups who were the longstanding objects of racially motivated hysteria. Making the film proved to be more challenging than expected, with the original producer abandoning the project, and Abdel-Muhti's American-born son becoming the subject of a police investigation. Abdel-Muhti endured a harsh incarceration, including prolonged solitary confinement and a denial of access to his medications. He was eventually released in April 2004, only to die from a heart attack three months later. While Aderer's goals are sincere and noble, Enemy Alien suffers a bit from a stop-and-start effect whenever the filmmaker's personal narrative takes over from that of Abdel-Muhti's. Nonetheless, the film offers a much-needed reminder of the uglier aspects of post-9/11 society, when government-engineered fear and violence became the “new normal” under the guise of homeland security. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)