Chronicling the unlikely alliance forged in captivity between a Jewish-American journalist and a British Pakistani (cynically described by one comrade as "the human face of Muslim fundamentalism"), this uncompromising drama recalls the ordeal of Daniel Pearl, which also inspired Michael Winterbottom's A Mighty Heart.
However, writer-director Jamil Dehlavi is more interested in the routes the men took to becoming prisoner and gaoler and takes pains to establish that Kevin Collins' determination to uncover the financial workings of Al-Qa'ida was motivated by his sister's death in the Twin Towers and that public school-educated Raza Jaffrey was radicalised by his experiences in Bosnia. Yet their tenatative rapprochement never really convinces, with the discussion of their conflicting ideologies feeling watered down for mainstream consumption and the humanity aspect too often lurching into melodrama.