Bryan Fogel’s new documentary about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi is unsurprisingly hard-hitting, but it’s the context for macro-scale geopolitics that The Dissident communicates so well. Despite some missteps and wasted frames in the visual execution, the contextual aspect is multiplicative.

Khashoggi disappeared on October 2, 2018, after entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul. After many deflections and denials on the part of Saudi authorities, The Washington Post columnist was declared dead. A subsequent investigation made it clear that Khashoggi had been murdered and dismembered as part of a Saudi state operation.

The act of murder alone is enough to inspire horror (much more so than the Russian state doping’s political intrigue in Fogel’s Oscar-winning 2017 documentary Icarus). Still, The Dissident splits up the timeline of the murder and weaves in several strands that provide background information, including details about Khashoggi’s career, the reform program driven by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the role of social media in the Arab Spring and the response of the Saudi state to online dissent.

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Much of The Dissident follows another Saudi exile named Omar Abdulaziz in Montreal. His explanation of the Saudi “troll farms” used to overwhelm online critics is critical in understanding the reach and perceived danger of internet-based scrutiny that would put a target upon Khashoggi, who was inspired by social media’s role in the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. The way The Dissident’s participants perceive these events is crucial when analyzing the central story, one which may be lost on western audiences with an outmoded understanding of the Middle East.

The Dissident is also keen to show that “modernisation” does not always equate to progress, especially under Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Although Saudia Arabia is liberalising on women’s rights (raising what is still an absurdly low bar), the government always seeks draconian control of other areas. By outlining the Saudi state’s attitude to the press, through discussion with Abdulaziz and others, The Dissident makes clear the abhorrent motivations for Khashoggi’s murder.

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Although contextualisation is the most valuable aspect of The Dissident, Fogel overreaches in illustrating some aspects. It’s not the first documentary to struggle with overblown animations to communicate cyber-security concepts or metaphorical social media depictions, and given the contemporary context in which it presents the idea of electronic phone hacking and social media warfare, these segments feel like a cheap addition that expands the film more than is necessary. A similar computer animation technique was used in sections of Icarus, yet that documentary illustrates logistical concepts rather than metaphorical ones.

Nevertheless, The Dissident is an accomplished follow up to Icarus, which adds depth and understanding to the central horror of Khashoggi’s death. Although the inciting incident is newsworthy alone, Fogel hammers home how the larger-scale backdrop is even more abhorrent.

Jim Ross (@JimGR) is a film critic and film journalist based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the Managing Editor and co-founder of TAKE ONE Magazine, which began as the official review publication of the Cambridge Film Festival and now covers film festivals and independent film worldwide. Jim hosted a fortnightly film radio show on Cambridge 105FM from 2011-2013 and joined the crew of Cinetopia, on Edinburgh community radio EH-FM, in 2019.