Los Angeles Times

'Jihad Rehab' started a furor at Sundance. But the problem is bigger than one film

A still from Meg Smaker's“ Jihad Rehab,” an official selection of the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.

The documentary "Jihad Rehab," despite its questionable title, has the sort of premise that's usually innocuous to indie film buffs. The film follows three men, each of whom were detained for 15 years at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, after their transfer to a "rehabilitation" facility in Saudi Arabia for former terrorism suspects. It's a humanizing journey through a complex emotional process of self-reckoning and accountability, and a look at the devastating fallout of flawed U.S. and Saudi policy as the men are reconditioned from radicalization and warfare to polite society.

So I was confused to learn recently of the controversy around the film's inclusion in this year's Sundance Film Festival, which has since provoked an official apology from the organization. All at the

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