Human Weapon

Offering a very disturbing, often graphic look at a subject incomprehensible to most Americans, Human Weapon provides beyond-the-headlines insights into the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to peace in the tortured Middle East, while chronicling the history of the nefarious terrorist practice of suicide bombing. Filmed in Iran, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Israel, Palestine, Europe, and the U.S., director Ilan Ziv's powerful documentary features interviews with Muslim clerics trained in the "art" of being a human bomb, young men whose zealous love of country and hatred of Israel combine to overcome the basic human will to live. Interspersed among the interviews (which include commentary from the parents of these would-be martyrs) are disturbing photographs and newsreel footage depicting the blood, carnage, and broken bodies that result from a suicide bombing--loathsome images indeed, but once viewers are past the initial shock of seeing a headless body or, for that matter, listening to a religious leader casually defend the practice of suicide, the program has much to teach us about a relatively new form of civilian-targeted warfare that garners major attention in the media, strikes fear in the hearts of people all over the world, and is--sadly--an oftentimes daily aspect of life in the Middle East. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (J. Carlson)