Profile (2021)

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

You gotta admit, the director knows how to make a captivating film. His style and "one computer screen" gimmick work shockingly well. I was engaged the entire first hour.... until the absolutely stupid and illogical script takes over. The protagonist has to be the most stupid character I've had the displeasure to encounter in several years. And this includes countless B-movies as well. I got a cramp from shaking my head so much in the second half that the only way to avoid getting a headache was to leave. So I did.

The film tells the story of a young female journalist who received an assignment to write a story about European women sent into sexual slavery by the ISIS. For this purpose she creates a fake profile of a British woman who has recently converted to Islam. On the internet she meets an ISIS fighter in Syria and they begin conversing with each other via Skype.The film's action takes place entirely on a computer screen and is part of the Screen Life genre pioneered by Timur Bekmambetov.British-Pakistani actor Shazad Latif portrayed the ISIS terrorist convincingly. Valene Kane also created an interesting image of a frustrated British female, who has problems with her job, finances and in her personal life.The film touches upon several important issues - the phenomenon of women who have been recruited by the ISIS, a real problem of our time, which has become more widespread in recent years. When we read about these things in the press, it is difficult to understand the motivation of these women, as they should know what can happen with them in these countries. However, the film convincingly shows how how a woman becomes transformed from a successful journalist into a woman who is willing to leave everything and go to war-ridden Syria.The film is also about lie and deceit which exists in different variations on the internet. We should not forget that screen representation is only a small slice of life, which can be either truth or complete fabrication.The film is very current, since in the epoch of the internet there are a lot of fake news and boundaries between truth and lie become difficult to distinguish.

I just returned from the film screening at the Berlinale. The audience gave this film a big ovation! 'Profile' tells a story of a British journalist, Amy (Valene Kane) who investigates ISIS recruting young girls and accidentally almost falls in love with one of the terrorists (Shazad Latif). The story is filmed through screen-capture, meaning that we only see Amy's computer screen, all her conversations, messages, Skype calls with Bilel (the ISIS terrorist) etc. It's mind-blowing how much you can tell from and with our online conversations and how easily recognisable everything is, the functions, the software she uses, the messengers. I wonder what we'd make of this film 20 years on. :) Due to this unusual style, the film feels very intimate: we often see Amy or Bilel close-up, skyping, and can experience all their emotions almost first-hand. Valene Kane's performance takes center stage and is especially good, with deep emotions hiding behind her pretence persona of a converted young Muslim. The film keeps you in suspence from the beginning till the end. There are often moment when you fear Amy would blow her cover or end up in great trouble. The storyline is well-built, every little details plays a role: as an example, just follow the titles of Amy's video files (recordings of her conversations with Bilel). The story itself is very disturbing and scary, especially when you see that even a rational grown-up woman almost falls for the recruiter's tactics. A young girl has very little chance to escape. Great job from everyone involved! I recommend everyone to watch this film.