Les Salafistes and a French Reproduction of Certainties in a World of Uncertainties

The new French documentary Les Salafistes (The Salafis) that premieredJanuary 26, 2016, in a small number of French theaters offersiconographic imagery seldom seen in the public space: a stringof interviews with some of the leading jihadist militants in Mali,Tunisia, Algeria, and Iraq coupled with ghastly images of violenceperpetrated by militant groups. The intention appears to be to showthe irrationality of and paradox in the jihadis’ discourse and actions.Unfortunately, the directors have succeeded only in reproducing alreadyexisting stereotypes of Salafis. The lack of any appropriatecontextualization that problematizes the recent rise of violence inthe Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is perhaps thefilm’s major flaw. Despite the directors’ ambition to let violent extremistsdiscredit their own project, the documentary presents anessentialist argument that reproduces Orientalist imageries of a savagereligion. Without the appropriate commentary and backgroundoverview to the conflicts featured in the film, the audiences are leftalone with an extremist narrative that confirms the evocations ofthe West’s moral, cultural, and political superiority over the East.