Leila Khaled, Hijacker

Leila Khaled was the first woman to hijack a plane. In 1969, she showed her grenades to the terrified passengers by order of the Che Guevara commando unit of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Through the ensuing media bombardment, she put the Palestinian nation on the global map. The pretty 24-year-old Leila became a hero to many Palestinians, including the Swedish/Palestinian teenager Lina Makboul, who is now a filmmaker. At least Leila dared to do something, Lina thought at the time. She visits Leila 35 years later with a camera, and finds a woman who does not regret anything. Today, Lina is no longer convinced that violence is a viable solution. Leila even gave the Palestinians a bad reputation, she now feels. At home on Leila's couch, Lina confronts her with the reactions from passengers, pilots and stewardesses whom Leila left in mortal fear back then. But she also comforts Leila when she bursts into tears, holding a stone from her old house in Haifa. And we see how one of the most famous terrorists of all time vacuums her house and takes an afternoon nap in a dramatised scene.