''The Islamic State'' is a

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

created by

VICE News Vice News (stylized as VICE News) is Vice Media's alternative current affairs channel, producing daily documentary essays and video through its website and YouTube channel. It promotes itself on its coverage of "under-reported stories". Vice Ne ...

in 2014 during the rise of the Islamic State and documented by Vice News correspondent Medyan Dairieh while he was visiting the

territory of the Islamic State The Islamic State (IS) had its core in Iraq and Ba'athist Syria, Syria from 2013 to 2017 Western Iraq campaign, 2017 and Battle of Baghuz Fawqani, 2019 respectively, where the proto-state controlled significant swathes of urban area, urban, rur ...

for 3 weeks in which he explored areas of

Raqqa Raqqa (, also , Kurdish language, Kurdish: ''Reqa'') is a city in Syria on the North bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and b ...

with the

hisbah Enjoining good and forbidding wrong () are two important duties imposed by God in Islam as revealed in the Quran and Hadith. This expression is the base of the classical Islamic institution of ''ḥisba'', the individual or collective duty (depe ...

(Islamic State police) and explored the front lines of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. A trailer was released for it called "From ISIS to the Islamic State" which was released on August 11, 2014.

Film and plot

The correspondent, Medyan Dairieh, was spending three weeks in the territory of the Islamic State in

from May to June 2014, where he explored Raqqa up to the

Euphrates river The Euphrates ( ; see below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originating in Turkey, the Euphrates flows through S ...

in which he talked to the members of the Islamic State,

military of the Islamic State The Military of the Islamic State is the fighting force of the Islamic State (IS). The total force size at its peak was estimated from tens of thousands to over 200,000. IS's armed forces grew quickly during its territorial expansion in 2014. The ...

, and civilians under the rule of the Islamic State. These were considered planned trips and Dairieh was there with the permission of the Islamic State which was considered surprising by many. One of the members of the Islamic State that was a guide to the Euphrates was Islamic State

press officer A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage. Duties ...

Abu Mosa, who gained attention after being filmed by VICE News. Through their guide on the

banks A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. As banks ...

of the Euphrates, a propaganda vehicle that was used in propaganda by the Islamic State showed up and revealed how kids are used in the Islamic State, in the various clips shown in the documentary, the kids,

teenagers Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with ...

children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

, showed love for the Islamic State and the so-called

caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri (28 July 1971 – 27 October 2019), commonly known by his ''nom de guerre'' Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was an Iraqi militant leader who was the founder and first leader of the Islamic State (IS), who proclaimed hims ...

. During these interviews near the Euphrates, they talked about how the inside of the Islamic State worked with child recruitment, where kids under the age of 15 were sent to

Sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

camp, an organized learning environment about

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

Salafism The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a Islamic fundamentalism, fundamentalist Islamic revival, revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" ...

, and

Jihadism Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation ...

, and kids above the age of 15 were sent to military camps to learn about fighting and basic weapons training, specifically with the

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...

. The driver of the propaganda van was an Australian-born Jihadist named Khaled Sharrouf who joined ISIS (before it was the Islamic State) in December of 2013, he was interviewed with his son where he pressured his son to say pro-ISIS answers to the interviewer. The van was called the "preaching van" which espoused

Qu'ran The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God (''Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides i ...

verses from the megaphones on top and also preached

Wahhabi Wahhabism is an exonym for a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It was initially established in the central Arabian region of Najd and later spread to other ...

ideologies. Those who interviewed VICE in the area of Raqqa about the children stated that the children were a "generation of

Jihad ''Jihad'' (; ) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God in Islam, God ...

" and loved the so-called

caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

. Through the tour of Raqqa, they talked about their hatred for

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, especially for cutting off the dam to Raqqa and

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

of the Euphrates, the

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA; ) is a Big tent, big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition (2011–2024), Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defe ...

, and

Al-Nusra Front Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra or Jabhat Nusrat Ahl al-Sham, also known as Front for the Conquest of the Levant, and also later known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham was a Salafi-jihadist organization that fought against Ba'athist Syria, Ba'athist ...

. Then he explored areas of Raqqa with the

(Islamic State police), whose patrol leader was Abu Obida, who explained his purpose to establish the caliphate in the way of the Prophet Mohammed, and ordered traders to remove a poster showing

infidel An infidel (literally "unfaithful") is a person who is accused of disbelief in the central tenets of one's own religion, such as members of another religion, or irreligious people. Infidel is an ecclesiastical term in Christianity around which th ...

s and a man to change the fabric on his wife's veil.

Reception and criticism

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' called the documentary 'impressive' in an article released by them. ''

Business Insider ''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...

'' called the documentary amazing and talked about how it showed the violence and the recruitment by the Islamic State. The legality of how VICE News gained access and the trust of the Islamic State was heavily questioned and criticized due to the fact it can be seen as illegal.

Awards

In 2014, the documentary won VICE News a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

. VICE News was one of the multiple news, radio and podcast winners for 2014. The winners were released on April 20, 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Islamic State (film), The 2014 documentary films 2014 films Works about the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Vice Media