Hostage Takers (2023)

A film about the IS members known as The Beatles who were the brutal prison guards of many western hostages including American war correspondent James Foley. After the brutal and live streamed beheading of James Foley - Sean Langan, a war journalist and close friend of James Foley - managed to track down two members of The Beatles group when they were held captured by the Kurds immediately after IS gave up Raqqa. Langan recorded hour long meetings with Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh in an extremely harsh and emotional confrontation, which is be used as a backbone to understand the nature of being a westerner and becoming a leading figure in IS. Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh have subsequently been found guilty in court in Washington in April 2022 and will serve life sentences for their actions. HOSTAGE TAKERS deals with the time during captivity in Syria 2013/2014 up to present time. The film is a brutal account told by firsthand witnesses. It's built up through carefully skilled interviews, archive footage, personal recordings, and dramatization. The witness accounts are jaw dropping in their brutal honesty.