Caliphate
Inspired by real events of the Bethnal Green Trio in London, this eight-episode long series is almost believable and one of the most underrated, powerful and harshly realistic in every aspect. Although this is my first time watching a Swedish show (you can watch it with subtitles or English dubbing as well), it is the nerve-bending acting of all the characters that crawls under your skin and casts a spell around you as if you are right there between them.
The entire series revolves around five women, Pervin (Gizem Erdogan) who wants to escape the restrictions and dangers of her radical, religious state in Raqqa, Syria; Sulle (Nora Rios), Kerima (Amanda Sohrabi) & Lisha (Yussra El Abdouni) who are seduced by fundamentalism as they begin to question the hypocrisy of modern, secular society; and Fatima (Aliette Opheim) who is racing to verify the news of an impending ISIS terrorist attack in Sweden. The relationship between all three women develops throughout the series, and it is tragic and thrilling. Gizem gives a strong powerful performance as a young mother married to an unstable ISIS soldier assisting in complicated attack by terrorist based in Stockholm. Aliette’s acting on the other end is sharp and focused as secret service agent. The young trio girls did a very good job portraying naive and ignorant.
You will be hooked till the very end of the show and that’s when it takes the cake with the last episode. It will amaze you that how many twists can you expect in a 50 min long last episode.
The cinematography and direction are impressive and they may have tried to keep a balance between the the actual events and the story. There’s nothing innovative in the narrative style, but the the storytelling is fine paced and the difficult subjects are treated very boldly.
The question remains that will Caliphate remain one-off mini series or will there be a season two? It is not confirmed yet but we can see it is quite critically praised and the story ends with enough material for another season.
Disclaimer: The above review solely illustrates the views of the writer.