Khashoggi had hesitated about going. He was already in exile,having fled the country a few years earlier to avoid arrest. His Saudi wife had been forced to divorce him. He needed documentary proof of that divorce in order to remarry.
The killing was planned. The Turkish police quickly obtained a recording made during the murder – no-one explains how they got it – and director Bryan Fogel has the full transcript,in which several individuals take part in dismemberment of Khashoggi’s body with a bone saw. A Turkish forensic policeman says the killing took place in a video-enabled conference room of the consulate,which meant the murder could be watched live ‘in another country’.
The CIA concluded within weeks that the Saudi Crown Prince,Mohammed bin Salman (known colloquially as MBS),ordered the killing. He has repeatedly denied it and remains in power,even as eight of the original 15 have beentried and convicted by a Saudi court.
InThe Dissident,Fogel sifts through all of this evidence with purpose,but also with an eye for drama. Before all this detail,we meet a then-27-year-old Saudi in exile in Montreal. Omar Abdulaziz is a prominent critic of the Saudi royal family,with an influential YouTube show. He was also a close friend of Jamal Khashoggi.
Fogel films him with feature-film techniques,establishing him as a character. He then moves on to other friends and locations,adding pieces to the puzzle,as if constructing a thriller. It’s a controversial technique,because documentary is not drama. It requires objectivity,sober construction,a visual style different from a TV whodunit. At least,it used to – Fogel’s ideas of documentary challenge all those assumptions. He’s more like a lawyer than a journalist,building a case against the entire Saudi state.