Warriors from the North

The issue of young Muslims traveling from Europe to countries such as Syria and Somalia to fight with Islamic rebels is a highly topical one, making this story of a Danish-Somalian boy even more relevant. His back turned to the camera as he looks out over a nondescript housing development in Copenhagen, “The Shadow” describes how he fell victim to recruiters from the militant Somalian rebel group al-Shabaab. He outlines the conditions that make boys such as him susceptible to the lure of the “holy war,” explaining that, “Nothing in my life made any sense.” So eloquent is he in his account that one might think it was scripted, but what happened to him is as real as the scenes from a suicide attack by one of his former friends. Directors Nasib Farah and Søren Steen Jespersen approach the subject in a very matter-of-fact way. A number of other very young fighters from countries including the Netherlands, their identities concealed, explain why they left hearth and home and are prepared to die. Abukar, a cleaner, represents the voice of the parents who are doing everything within their power to convince their children to return home.