When a British-born actor abandons his Hollywood career to volunteer to Join the Kurdish YPG to fight ISIS in Syria, many see him as a selfless hero battling America's most insidious enemy. But others think he's a hot-tempered narcissist, staging a publicity stunt to further his career - and when his service ends, neither the UK nor the US welcome him back. Through incisive interviews with the actor, his supporters, his detractors, and top-tier experts - and featuring the actor's own jaw-dropping helmet-cam video of deadly battles with and interrogations of ISIS fighters - Heval gives viewers unprecedented access into a war against evil and one man's controversial role in it.
Related Movies
Charlie Sheen's Stunts Spectacular (1994)
The first behind the scenes look revealing the movie magic of the men and women of the stunt profession, Hollywood's unsung heroes. Charlie Sheen and Stuntman Hall of Famer BJ Davis host.
L'ordre à tout prix (2021)
When France rumbles, the strategy and control of public order become a crucial political issue. Between protecting institutions and guaranteeing the right to demonstrate: the right balance is subtle. At the beginning of the Yellow Vests movement, at the end of 2018, the principles of "French-style" policing were shattered. The ransacking of the Arc Triomphe, the hundreds of injuries among the demonstrators and the forces of order mark the minds. How did it come to this? In order to understand, the film questions the so-called "legitimate" force and confronts them with the images of these confrontations.
The Story Won't Die (2021)
THE STORY WON’T DIE, from Award-winning filmmaker David Henry Gerson, is an inspiring, timely look at a young generation of Syrian artists who use their work to protest and process what is currently the world’s largest and longest ongoing displacement of people since WWII. The film is produced by Sundance Award-winner Odessa Rae (Navalny). Rapper Abu Hajar, together with other creative personalities of the Syrian uprising, a post-Rock musician (Anas Maghrebi), members of the first all-female Syrian rock band (Bahila Hijazi + Lynn Mayya), break-dancer (Bboy Shadow), choreographer (Medhat Aldaabal), and visual artists (Tammam Azzam, Omar Imam + Diala Brisly), use their art to rise in revolution and endure in exile in this new documentary reflecting on a battle for peace, justice and freedom of expression. It is an uplifting and humanizing look at what it means to be a refugee in today’s world and offers inspiring and hopeful vantages on a creative response to the chaos of war.
Letters from Europe (2021)
"Letters from Europe" brings to light the words of men and women who gave their lives resisting the Nazi and fascist conquest from 1939 to '45 across the European continent. The moving goodbyes penned by a few of those sentenced to death are sometimes true spiritual testaments that explore the meaning of civic responsibility, human existence, fraternity, and life and death. Their words, which the film mingles with footage of the present day, can perhaps restore meaning to a humanist ideal and to the ever-changing idea of a united Europe.
Jiyana Rewsenbireki Kurd: Casimê Celîl (2021)
Casimê Celîl was born into a Yezidi Kurdish family in 1908, in a village called Kızılkule, located in Digor, Kars. The village and family life, which he longed to remember throughout his life, ends with the massacre they endured in 1918. During his long road to Erivan, Armenia, he lost all his family members. Left all alone, Casim was placed into an orphanage and was forced to change his name. To remember who he was and where he came from, every morning he repeated the mantra “Navê min Casim e, Ez kurê Celîlim, Ez ji gundê Qizilquleyê Dîgorê me, Ez Kurdim, Kurdê Êzîdî me”, which translates to: “My name is Casim, I am the son of Celîl, I come from the village of Kızılkule in Digor, I am a Kurd, and I am Yezidi”. He clings to every piece of his culture he can find, reads, and saves whatever Kurdish literature or art he comes across. As the year’s pass, Casim finds himself with an impressive collection of Kurdish culture and history.
No End in Sight (2007)
Chronological look at the fiasco in Iraq, especially decisions made in the spring of 2003 - and the backgrounds of those making decisions - immediately following the overthrow of Saddam: no occupation plan, an inadequate team to run the country, insufficient troops to keep order, and three edicts from the White House announced by Bremmer when he took over.
El Equipo del Pueblo (2024)
Documentary tells the story of the Chilean football club Colo-Colo, exploring its profound impact on popular culture and the everyday lives of its fans. Throughout the film, it shows how the club has transcended sport to become a symbol of resistance, pride, and class struggle in Chile.
The Basque Ball: Skin Against Stone (2003)
An attempt to create a bridge between the different political positions that coexist, sometimes violently, in the Basque Country, in northern Spain.
Nothing to be Afraid of (2019)
Ever since the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, the still disputed territory is contaminated by landmines. This documentary follows five female de-miners on their risky job.
Duutsers (2023)
How was the Second World War experienced in Rouveen, Overijssel? This Orthodox Christian village near Staphorst was self-sufficient during the war. And largely isolated from the outside world. The last eyewitnesses of the war, the children of that time, are now all very old. In the Duutsers, residents of the Overijssel village of Rouveen talk movingly openly about their war memories to fellow villager and filmmaker Geertjan Lassche. Their stories are interspersed with historical video fragments and photos from the past. This is how an honest child's view of growing up in a rural village unfolds. How did the war come to the village? Who is that stranger in the village in front of them, that German? And in what those of other strangers? When does unrest arise, and unrest in fear of hatred? What about the Jewish labor camps in the village and how did they view the Canadian liberators?
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Michael Moore's view on how the Bush administration allegedly used the tragic events on 9/11 to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Öcalan and the Kurdish Question (2015)
Kurdistan, partitioned between Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria, could play a major role in a torn Middle East. But who are the Kurds? What influence do they have? Who exactly is Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party? An enlightening investigation by Luis Miranda.
The 1001 Faces of Palmyra (2021)
Two thousand years ago, it was a flourishing city in the middle of what is now a Syrian desert. At the crossroads of trade routes, Palmyra attracted caravanners from Mesopotamia, India and China. In what remains of its ruins, rediscovered by Europeans in the 17th century, its numerous necropolises bear witness to a prosperous past. Carved in limestone in the first centuries of our era, the faces of the representatives - men, women and children - of its greatest families adorn the walls of its tombs. Since 2012, Danish archaeologist Rubina Raja has been leading a long-term project to find, document and retrace the family trees and daily life of these Palmyrenians.
Commander Arian (2018)
On the front line of the Syrian war, a 30-year-old commander leads her female battalion to retake an ISIS-controlled city and emerges severely wounded, forcing her to redefine herself in this empowering tale of emancipation and freedom.
My Brother the Islamist (2011)
Filmmaker Robb Leech attempts to understand his stepbrother's journey from middle-class white boy in Weymouth to convicted terrorist. In 2010 Robb spent a year filming his stepbrother Rich after he turned his back on the world in which he grew up to become a fundamentalist Muslim called Salahuddin. Robb began filming with his stepbrother as he entered a strange new world where everyone talked about fighting jihad and implementing Sharia law. The result was Robb's acclaimed BBC Three documentary, My Brother the Islamist. When, in 2013, Salahuddin is convicted of preparing terrorism acts and jailed for six years, Robb is desperate to know what triggered his stepbrother, and others like him, to cross the line. Robb seeks out imam and psychologist Alyas Karmani to understand what drives young British-born men and women into radical jihadism. And he confronts Anjem Choudary, the man who converted Rich, about his role in Salahuddin's radicalisation
My War (2018)
A disturbing portrait of four Western volunteers who risk their lives to fight ISIS alongside Kurdish forces. The feature documentary 'My War' probes the complex motives behind the need to take up arms on someone else’s behalf.
Under the Upturned Moon (2018)
“Under the Upturned Moon” is a documentary that tells an outstandingly gripping story of two journalists investigating the depths of Islamic community in a country as small and seemingly insignificant as Latvia.
VICE News: The Islamic State (2014)
The Islamic State, a hardline Sunni jihadist group that formerly had ties to al Qaeda, has conquered large swathes of Iraq and Syria. Previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the group has announced its intention to reestablish the caliphate and has declared its leader, the shadowy Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as the caliph. The lightning advances the Islamic State made across Syria and Iraq in June shocked the world. But it's not just the group's military victories that have garnered attention - it's also the pace with which its members have begun to carve out a viable state. Flush with cash and US weapons seized during its advances in Iraq, the Islamic State's expansion shows no sign of slowing down. In the first week of August alone, Islamic State fighters have taken over new areas in northern Iraq, encroaching on Kurdish territory and sending Christians and other minorities fleeing as reports of massacres emerged. —VICE News
Scream (2021)
An experimental essay film about terrorism, media, violence and globalisation. Three infotainment news broadcasts - a rollercoaster, a hijacking, and an influencer - are soundtracked by pulsating experimental electronics that push the psychic residue of a post war-on-terror world out of the unconscious and onto the screen. Capitalism, imperialism, desire; all three are implicated in a nihilism that has seeped from the news into the social psyche.