Lyric R. Cabral & David Felix Sutcliffe's (T)ERROR is an in-depth documentary which takes the viewer directly into the world of an active FBI counter-terrorism investigation. Following the informant, 'Shariff', a 60-something former member of the Black Panthers, the film exposes the government's counter-terrorism tactics that have grown increasingly more aggressive in the post 9/11 landscape of the United States. While (T)ERROR is an impressive documentary for its ability to provide a behind the scenes look at counter-terrorism informants, what makes the film truly fascinating is how it captures the complexities of a system built to try and stop something that is essentially unstoppable, which breeds a dangerous mix where civilian rights can be trampled on for the sake of the perceived greater good. Many FBI informants aren't exactly the most upstanding citizens, as they need to be people which terrorists and other shady individuals can trust. What (T)ERROR exposes is how these men are simply pawns in a game of cat and mouse, used to essentially perform a complex game of entrapment, with this story in particular showing Shariff attempt to bait his target, a man whose views on American aren't exactly positive but also don't seem particularly incendiary. (T)ERROR explains how in the Post 9/11 world FBI informants went from 1,500 to 15,000, capturing an aggressive and unregulated growth of power that is dangerous to civil liberties, even contrasting these events with the events centered around the civil rights movement which saw FBI informants infiltrating the Black Panther party. What (T)ERROR does extremely well is capture the importance of checks and balances in our government, where like the NSA, the FBI needs to have more government over-site into what these security and crime organizations. (T)ERROR shows how in attempting to stop terrorist attacks before they happened we've created an aggressive and dangerous system that pushes and prods relentlessly until it gets what it wants, sometimes convicting innocent men of terrorism. The film's stark questions related around who is watching the watchers in this surveillance state of modern America is compelling, but the character study aspect centered around Shariff, may actually be the most compelling aspect of the film. Shariff is a fascinating character in himself, a former black panther who committed to being an FBI informant many years ago. The way the film exposes how Shariff is essentially at the mercy of his employers is downright fascinating, as (T)ERROR slowly reveals a man who is mentally tortured and hurt by the type of job that sees him befriend someone simply to betray them later, sometimes doing so to individuals who may be completely innocent. Lyric R. Cabral & David Felix Sutcliffe's (T)ERROR is a stark and compelling documentary about the current state of America counterterroism, raising fascinating questions about the relationship between public safety, liberty, and privacy.
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June 2023
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