Educational Media Reviews Online

This Danish production shows the everyday life in a fundamentalist Islamic school, or Madrassa, in Pakistan. Shot after the events of 9/11, the video lets the teachers and students speak for themselves after a text introduction. There is no commentary as we see the students and teachers go about their business, which is instructing the boys, some of whom are as young as five or six years, in the Koran. The course begins with the young men learning the Koran, in Arabic, by heart. This lasts over two years. The regime is strict, beginning at 4:30 in the morning and ending at 10 in the evening. There is a short afternoon break of some two hours and one day off during the week. This particular school is the same where many of the Taliban leaders were educated and we see the commitment of the present group of students to the cause of Jihad and the establishment of Islam world-wide. One episode shows an anti-U.S./West rally held at the school. Sound and picture are excellent. The subtitles, which translate the dialogue, are all very readable. Senior high, college, and public libraries should at least consider due to the present world situation.