Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

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

adanathel Very well made documentary well structured on the motive and evolution of terrorism.It gives a number of interesting reasons and explanation of the world and the history and the social problems that produced the individuals that participate in such organizations.It almost gives a real and human aspect to them.The idea of how a human being is transformed into becoming such a type of murderer.Although it must be said that it leaves out a very important aspect.The responsibility of the Western countries on the creation of the circumstances leading to the rise and influence of terrorist organizations.Granted of course that the subject of the movie is not centered on that aspect, so it is quite understandable that it is not analyzed that much.One though has to explore Western intervention, alongside the events depicted in this movie, to have a more complete picture on the subject.Lastly I don't really see why some see this as giving a bad name about Islam...It just analyzes the motive of RADICAL Islamists.It never even crossed my mind that this movie attacks Islam, before i actually saw someone commenting on it.And I still think it is not.It comments on RADICAL movements and I don't really think anyone in the right mind can really confuse typical Muslims with the radical sects of Islam that are depicted here.Unless of course he is a complete idiot....

John Seal This is a very good documentary--we wouldn't expect less from filmmaker Alex Gibney--but My Trip to al-Qaeda succeeds in ways that Gibney may not have intended. Based on a play by reporter and author Lawrence Wright, the film provides a history of the development of al-Qaeda--much of it quite valuable, most of it interesting--but also exposes the man's deep-seated contempt for 'backwards' Islam, unfailing belief in American exceptionalism, and apparent inability to imagine any other kind of society than the one in which he lives. The reliance on 'good Muslims' such as former FBI agent Ali Soufan and a representative of the Quilliam Foundation, a taxpayer-funded front organization for Britain's (New) Labour Party, to tell his story is a dead giveaway: whilst Wright doesn't seem like a bad guy, he also doesn't come across as particularly curious or particularly willing to engage with alien ideas and philosophies. Perhaps his book The Looming Tower is a better representation of his thinking, but what we see here seems a bit on the shallow side.

sherco-854-787590 Every American; each person on this planet should see this extraordinary film. It is a unique, insightful and unemotional presentation that tells it like it is. What I witness from abroad, happening to America is precisely what plays into the Al Qaeda/Taliban script. America, you are self-imploding just as Lawrence Wright brings so succinctly to the forefront. The rhetoric of the extremists (particularly the Christian religious radical Right) which is spewed by the Fox media, is a powerful enabler of extremism and will bring down your country from within. To where has compromise, compassion, understanding, meaningful debate and sanity disappeared? Wake up Americans, before it is too late and take the message of "My Trip to Al-Qaeda to heart.

eastbergholt2002 Lawrence Wright's film is fascinating and thought provoking. I read Wright's book The Looming Tower in 2006 and it was the first time I felt I had a clear understanding what the war with Al Qaeda was all about. In this film, Wright explores similar territory and provides an explanation of the philosophy of groups like Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Both share a view of the world that is repugnant and alien to our liberal western sensibilities. We value human life, scientific progress and equality for women and they don't. Wright explains that the Islamic world resents the material and military success of the West. The rise of terrorism has been a way for some extremists to obtain payback for the years of humiliation. While the West has mostly rejected religious fanaticism, Wright shows that parts of the Islamic world are now embracing it. Many regard their failure to compete with the West as a punishment from God. Because Muslims have rejected the true path they need to embrace fundamentalism to achieve God's forgiveness. They therefore reject modernity and oppose Arab leaders like Anwer Sadat who favor secularism. Al Qaeda wants to eliminate what it sees as our corrosive influence in the Middle East. However it is not clear why God isn't punishing us, the infidels for our blasphemous ways. We don't enforce the punishments listed in the Old Testament like killing anyone who works on the Sabbath, so it's hard for us to understand why the stoning of women is making a comeback in countries like Iran or why this is something that God requires. Wright argues that U.S. policies towards the Muslim world after 9/11 have played into bin Laden's hands. Policy makers failed to understand that bin Laden was happy to weaken the U.S. by drawing it into long draining wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The nightmare scenario is for the Islamists capture the Middle East or they start an ongoing insurgency in the West. Watching this program you feel reasonably confident this won't happen, mainly because you quickly realize how crazy their beliefs are. Their views have no appeal for us and it's hard to believe that rational Muslims really want what Al Qaeda is selling. Even their interpretation of Islam seems un-Islamic. The West and the Islamists have incompatible views on the world so it seems that there will always be conflict. Wright seems to understand this strange world. This is a fascinating film.