Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah take a break from cape movies and give us Rebel, a film juggling two storylines. The first involves actor Aboubakr Bensaïhi playing Kemal Wasaki, a Belgian who joins anti-Assad forces. His group eventually joins Daesh or ISIS, and he tries to make himself reluctantly useful as a video journalist. As per ISIS’ archaic laws, they sell him a virgin Sunni wife, Noor (Tara Abboud), a doctor from a past life. For the second storyline, the film returns to Belgium to Kemal’s mother Leila (Lubna Azabal), raising her younger son. That son is Nassim (Amir El Arbi), whose mix of bad friends and video games makes him ripe for recruiters.

The story here requires Adil and Bilall to juxtapose the stories of two brothers, separating temporarily and eventually converging. As filmmakers who got their training in the West, they’re using the same methods to differentiate the two separate locations. They use a hint of blueish tint for the Belgium scenes and brown for the areas depicting Daesh. But the operative word is ‘hint’, as the filmmakers see the need for subtlety in an otherwise ‘big’ story. The cinematography isn’t the only thing, thankfully, that differentiates the two continents, as it utilizes space within the frame. The Belgium scenes in Rebel have Nassim obliviously smiling at his groomers while the Daesh scenes have sad still lives.

Adil and Bilall may have temporarily left Hollywood for Rebel, a passion project, but Hollywood is still there. In fairness to them, why reinvent the wheel during an action scene where Kemal and Noor escape from ISIS. In a 130 minute film that’s maybe ten minutes too long, that scene is more riveting than the other ones. And of course, the film has its share of stereotypes even in depicting characters that feel mostly three dimensional. Obviously, a boy can be both a gaming addict and a target for your friendly neighbourhood recruiter for Daesh. It’s easy to assume that the filmmakers make those associations and some viewers may do similar things at home.

But nonetheless, I am a person who has a foot in both the Global North and the Global South. It’s easy, then, for me to understand why Adil and Bilall made an independent passion project like Rebel. A film like this shows that love is a luxury that most people in the Western world take for granted. Most of us will never have to cross war zones just and be at the mercy of UN doctors. We do mundane things like teach our friends how to ride motorcycles without thinking we’re breaking a stupid law. We will never have to cross war zones for the chance to reunite with estranged brothers or estranged sons. Even the occasional musical numbers work to bring the point across of what some people do for their families.

Rebel comes soon to OVID commercial free and uncut.