Some documentaries shock you. The ARD now has such a film on offer: “Leonora – Once IS terror and back” accompanies a minor in her long struggle back to normality.
It’s a phenomenon that’s been widely reported, but we’ve rarely been able to get this close: underage girls were recruited in the heydays of the so-called “Islamic State” to emigrate to Syria and Iraq. There they were married and lived as radical Muslims with torturers and murderers. But how are the families of the girls and young women doing, what options do the IS fighters have to come back to Germany and how do they get their normal life back? The documentary “Leonora – Ein IS-Terror und zurück”, which has been available in the ARD media library since July 4th, investigates this question.
The Leonora Messing case has already caused quite a stir when the film’s makers put together a lengthy article for the daily news. Now you can see the whole story about the girl who was part of the terrorist organization from 2015 until the end of IS. Her father Maik Messing, who plays the leading role in the documentary alongside her, is particularly impressive. After two months in Syria, the then 15-year-old wrote to him that she wanted to go back to Germany and regretted her decision. From then on, the father wages a six-year struggle to get his daughter back, and his efforts move you to tears.
The makers of the film Britta von der Heiden, Volkmar Kabisch and Amir Musaway trace the story of Leonora from the radicalization of the daughter, to her marriage to a high-ranking IS man who also comes from Germany, to the escape attempts and finally her return . One gets particularly worried about father Maik when he puts himself in touch with smugglers through Kabisch who are supposed to get Leonora out: The smugglers belonged to al-Qaeda. The daughter’s life is in danger several times when she tries to escape, there is always a long radio silence, in between Maik says that he no longer wants to live.
She describes the atrocities that Leonora has to witness in a calm but visibly traumatized way. Her husband, who was married to two other women, bought a Yazidi slave for $800. The filmmakers confront the man with these allegations: He claims that he wanted to save the sick Yazidi woman, but later sold her to her family for more than $24,000.
Another interesting question that the documentary negotiates is how Leonora finds her way back to her old life and whether she is still radicalized, there is also a process because of her IS membership. Although the film sometimes jumps badly between times and could have gone even deeper in some places, the documentary is must-watch of the highest quality.
“Leonora – Once IS terror and back” is available in the ARD media library.
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The original of this post “15-year-old went to the IS – father tried to free her with the help of al-Qaeda” comes from TV Spielfilm.
