Du'a Khalil Aswad was a 17-year-old Iraqi girl of the Yazidi faith, who was stoned to death in northern Iraq in early April 2007. Long before ISIS. She was the victim of an honor killing.
Why do I bring up her name?
Because actual footage of Khalil's brutal execution is used blatantly in this movie. Not to honor her memory. Not to put focus on sectarian, misogynic honor killings. No, the footage is used to depict the death of a fictional character in the film; a British teenage girl named Taylor Conger, who is killed by ISIS in the fictional story of the movie.
Why? Du'a Khalil Aswad wasn't at all fictional. What you see is sadly her actual flesh and blood. Du'a Khalil Aswad wasn't killed by ISIS either. Du'a Khalil Aswad wasn't a British teenager. Du'a Khalil Aswad didn't ask to be used as an unpaid extra while being beaten and stoned to death. Du'a Khalil Aswad didn't give Timur Bekmambetov permission to use her molested body as a movie prop.
Yet Timur Bekmambetov did. Maybe he thought nobody would ever notice? Maybe he couldn't care less about abusing some dead teenage girl? Maybe it saved him some money? Maybe he's into snuff?
However, one thing is certain: Timur Bekmambetov didn't have the decency to list her name in the credits.
Du'a Khalil Aswad.
Why do I bring up her name?
Because actual footage of Khalil's brutal execution is used blatantly in this movie. Not to honor her memory. Not to put focus on sectarian, misogynic honor killings. No, the footage is used to depict the death of a fictional character in the film; a British teenage girl named Taylor Conger, who is killed by ISIS in the fictional story of the movie.
Why? Du'a Khalil Aswad wasn't at all fictional. What you see is sadly her actual flesh and blood. Du'a Khalil Aswad wasn't killed by ISIS either. Du'a Khalil Aswad wasn't a British teenager. Du'a Khalil Aswad didn't ask to be used as an unpaid extra while being beaten and stoned to death. Du'a Khalil Aswad didn't give Timur Bekmambetov permission to use her molested body as a movie prop.
Yet Timur Bekmambetov did. Maybe he thought nobody would ever notice? Maybe he couldn't care less about abusing some dead teenage girl? Maybe it saved him some money? Maybe he's into snuff?
However, one thing is certain: Timur Bekmambetov didn't have the decency to list her name in the credits.
Du'a Khalil Aswad.