Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
When Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappears after entering Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, his fiancée and dissidents around the world are left to piece together the clues to a brutal murder and expose a global cover up perpetrated by the very country he loved.
The Dissident is a gripping documentary centered on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a story with genuine global stakes and meticulous investigative construction. The plot unfolds with thriller-like tension, weaving together the fiancée's anguish, dissident voices, and intelligence revelations into a cohesive and damning narrative — earning a top mark for its documentary storytelling. The ending lands with real emotional and political weight, leaving viewers with a sobering sense of injustice and systemic impunity. Cinematography is competent and functional for the genre without being visually distinctive. Novelty is solid — the subject matter is singular and urgent, but the documentary approach follows familiar investigative journalism conventions. The 'acting' category, applied here to interview subjects and journalistic presence, is earnest and credible but uneven across participants.