Essay #2
Introduction
There are different portrayals of the same character in the story “The last days of Muhammad Atta” and the film “The Hamburg Cell.” The report below examines both the text and the film and provides a comprehensive comparison of the portrayal of characters and terrorist motivations. This is achieved by examining the different perspectives used by the author, as well as, the filmmaker in telling the story of America’s 9/11 attack and the individuals behind its planning and execution. Furthermore, the report examines the different character traits portrayed in both sources. It is clear from the analysis that there are significant differences and similarities in the style that both the author of the story and the film maker have portrayed major characters such as Muhammad Atta, one of the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attack in the United States. In particular, the report compares Atta’s feelings towards America and Islam as portrayed in both the film and short story.
“The last days of Muhammad Atta”
In the story, the author uses a first person perspective to put the reader in the mind of Muhammad Atta. This is very important as it takes the reader through the thought process on the last day of this man who was organizing the largest terrorist attack on American soil. The story is set on the morning of September 11 2001. This is very important as it is the actual day of the attack. In this story, the subject has trouble in the morning of the attack. He suffers from a severe headache which results in him stopping the vehicle on the way to the airport for the flight back to Boston. The splitting headaches have become more common as the day of the attack nears. In the book, the author writes,
“It was during the drive to Portland International Jetport that the headache began. In recent months, he had become something of a connoisseur of headaches (Amis, 103)”
This is interpretable to show that the character was feeling uneasy about the mission. The story shows Atta as a determined person. He is a person who is facing great difficulties in his life but he manages to overcome all the problems in his quest for his mission. The story portrays Atta as a socially awkward person to the extent that his fellow co-conspirators do not get along with him.
“The Hamburg Cell”:
The film “The Hamburg Cell” concentrates on the terrorists who carried out the attack on September 11 2001. These characters met when Atta was studying in Hamburg. In the film, the plot and story portrays Atta as a stern person. His interactions with other people including members of the terrorist cell are limited. The film also portrays him as a puritan who believes that everything needs to follow the law of the land. After becoming more serious in religion, he expects every person to follow the teachings of the religion. For instance, the film portrays many of the other terrorists who carried out the attacks as have been promiscuous and partook of alcohol. These are things that Atta is seen to despise as they are against his religion’s teachings. Therefore, he does not engage in such activities himself. During a flight from Dubai, it is clear that he is a person full of hate. When a group of Muslim men begins praying during the flight, a female attendant asks them to return to their seats. This angers Atta very much as he does not believe a woman should order men. This is mainly attributable to the fact that his religious views oppose it. Similarly, the closest he ever came to have a romantic relationship was with a woman who he could not accept because she was ‘emancipated.
Comparison of text and film:
Differences:
Among the differences in portrayals between the story and the film are Atta’s views on America and Islam. The differences also exist in the way his view of American and Islam influenced and motivated him for the attacks carried out. In the story, Muhammad is seen as an idealist but not religious. The author writes about him saying,
“He was an apostatehe didn’t expect paradise, what he expected was oblivion and strange to say, he would find neither (Amis, 100)”.
This quote indicates that he did not believe in many of the beliefs from his religion. These are the thoughts that were in Muhammad Atta’s mind on the morning of the attacks. Although he was a devour Muslim, this paragraph shows that he disagreed with some of the teachings of the religion. The other attackers were expecting six dozen virgins and a garden in paradise. Atta did not however believe in the same. The author writes,
“Muhammad Atta, with his two degrees in architecture, his excellent English, his excellent German: Muhammad Atta did not believe in the virgins, did not believe in the Garden (Amis, 100)”
This quote means that he did not participate in the attacks for religious reasons. He was taking part in the attacks for personal reasons and hatred towards America. Amis (108) writes,
“America was responsible for this or that million deaths.”
This quote means that he and his fellow terrorists blamed America for deaths in the Middle East. He wanted to be part of the group that resulted in the new war against America. During the hospital visit to the sheikh in Maine, he recites a citation from the prophet that declares that
“anyone who takes his own life will suffer for eternity in hell. However, he goes on to commit the same act in the belief that there is an exception for him (Amis, 107).”
This quote means that in Islam it was prohibit for an individual to take his own life. However, there were exceptions for suicide bombers who took their own lives because of religion. It shows that the terrorists were highly radicalized.
In the film however, the storyline and plot portray Muhammad as a very devout Muslim. He is a purist who believes in the fundamental view of his religion. For example, he observes prayer times strictly in the film. The film also shows his disapproval for people who do not stick strictly to the teachings of his religion. For instance, he does not get along well with the main character in the film, Ziad. This is because he views Ziad as not being strict enough. Ziad is seen to be promiscuous and partakes in alcohol, both of which are abhorred in the religion. This creates tension between the two characters. Additionally, in the film, he also makes two pilgrims to the Muslim holy site of Mecca in quick succession. However, it is revealed that the second purposed trip to Mecca was cover for a visit to Afghanistan. Throughout the film, his views on Islam are fundamentalist. It clear in the film that in his native Egypt, he was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Egyptian government had declared this group as a terrorist organization. These are all signs that show he subscribed to a fundamentalist form of Islam.
Similarities:
In both the story and the film, Atta is seen to have a hatred for everything western, especially American. He is seen to have cultivated this hatred from an early age in his native Egypt. He studies architecture in university and he despises the western style apartment buildings coming up in Cairo, which he views as blind adoption of western ideals while at the same time destroying traditional neighborhoods. During his studies in Hamburg, he is interested in Middle Eastern architecture and he focuses on Aleppo in Syria. During a trip to Aleppo with his professor, the new western style buildings coming up that he say destroys the distinct architecture of the ancient city disgust him. In the year 2000 when he disappears for a number of months, he is believed to have been to Afghanistan where he met with Osama bin Laden who was the leader of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization, which organized the September 11 attacks.
In the story, his hatred of America is also clear to see.
During the visit to Portland when he meets the sheikh in hospital, he recites a citation that clearly states that whoever takes his own life will suffer for eternity in hell. However, the sheikh reminds him that they are in infidel territory. He goes on to list all the purported crimes that America has committed against his people. After this, he is ready to continue with the attack because of his hatred of America. He also views Americans as fools in the story. He wonders why they have not discovered their plot yet.
“He was amazed that they still let him walk the streets, let alone enter a building or board a plane (Amis, 94).”
Discussion:
In the film, he is seen to have been meticulous in his preparation, identifying possible targets and even conducting surveillance flights. His hatred of America is clearly seen by one of the targets he identifies. Atta had identified a nuclear power station just outside New York as a possible target but it was rejected because his seniors did not view it as a symbolic target. His thinking behind choosing the nuclear power station was that it would cause maximum damage and render one of the most densely populated areas in the world uninhabitable for many millennia.
In the story, “The last days of Muhammad Atta” the author deviates from the conventional portrayal of Atta for a number of reasons. One of the reasons is given at the beginning of the story;
“no physical, documentary, or analytical evidence provides a convincing explanation why Atta and Omari drove to Portland, Maine from Boston on the morning of September 10, only to return to Logan on flight 5930 on the morning of September 11 (Amis, 93).”
Although the movements of the terrorists on their last day were uncovered, there is no logical explanation as to why they travelled. This means that the author of the story has dramatized the events to try to figure out why they travelled to Portland.
More important is that the author is trying to give a different perspective of the man who would carry out the most significant attack on American soil in modern history. After the events of that day in 2001, Muhammad Atta was considered a terrorist. He was therefore grouped along with other terrorists who are believed to act because of their religious beliefs. However, the author wants to give a different perspective on this man. In the story, it emerges that Muhammad was not a typical terrorist. He was well educated and came from a middle class background. In addition, the story does not portray him as a religious radical. Instead, the story portrays him as a disturbed man with many physical problems. However, it also shows him as a determined person who does not let normal setbacks to get in his way.
Conclusion:
In my opinion, the dramatization is deliberate by the author to portray the thought process of a man who understands that he is living his last day on earth. This is a bit different from the portrayal in the film “The Hamburg Cell” which is based on real life accounts of the same character. In real life, Muhammad was a socially awkward person who did not interact with many people because of his upbringing. His social awkwardness resulted to him seeking solace in his religion from where he was radicalized. The main reason why the author deviates from what would be considered an accurate portrayal of Atta is to give a different perspective to the reader. Many angles have been explored about terrorists but the thought process of a terrorist has rarely been interrogated. The author diverges from what would be considered an accurate portrayal of the actual terrorist in order to explore this perspective in a more effective way.
Works Cited:
Amis, Martin. The Last Days of Muhammad Atta. The Second Plan. 93 – 123 (2006). Print.
Dwyer, Finola, Antonia Bird, Ronan Bennett, Alice Perman, Karim Salah, Maral Kamel, Omar Berdouni, Adrian Corker, and Paul Conboy. The Hamburg Cell. Silver Spring, Md.: Acorn Media, 2006.
