My Dad Is Into Terrorism

Clémence Boulouque moved to New York City shortly before September 11, 2001. The 9/11 attacks awakened painful memories: after bomb explosions in Paris killed dozens of people during the mid-1980s, Clémence's father—French judge Gilles Boulouque—was assigned to the cases, resulting in threats of violence against the once-happy Boulouque family. William Karel's My Dad Is Into Terrorism combines excerpts from Clémence's 2003 memoir Mort d'un Silence with a collage of home movies and family photographs, as well as archival news reports, to tell the story of Clémence's father, who became embroiled in controversy after releasing a suspected terrorist around the same time that Iran freed two French hostages—an act which drew charges from the media, politicians, and colleagues that “reasons of state” influenced the judge's decision. Increasingly isolated, Gilles killed himself with his service revolver in December 1990. As the documentary travels back in time from the widespread horror and confusion following 9/11, to the grief of the Boulouque family a decade before, viewers see the intricate web of relationships that can exist between terrorism and politics, the media, and public and private life. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (J. Wadland)