SYNOPSIS:

Ziad a graduate school aged Lebanese emigrant to Germany is besotted at the first sight of Aysel, who is not only beautiful, but as an olive skinned, brown haired Turkish immigrant, reminds him of his home and heritage. He flirts with her, she is attracted to his good looks and easy going personality, for a young woman who once tried to commit suicide to escape her conservative Muslim heritage and who recently broke up with her German boyfriend due to cultural differences, the moderate, westernized Ziad must have felt like a God send. As they fall in love and begin their relationship, Aysel challenges Ziad to reform his playboy lifestyle and because he loves her, he tries by attending mosque despite having once privately mocked Muslim fundamentalists as religious fanatics. But this time, he makes good friends at the mosque and gradually recommits himself to Islam. One of those friends is Abdulrachman al-Makhadi, a demagogue who pressures Middle Eastern students to live according to strict Islamic codes. Ziad comes to admire Abdulrachman for his sense of purpose and dedication to Islam, Abdulrachman, for his part, simply likes having a sycophantic student in Ziad to stroke his ego. AbdulRachman persuades Ziad to accept militant anti-semitic and anti-western political views but warns him to practice 'taqiyya', the art of concealing one's faith from enemies and moderates who would not accept radical Islam. Ziad brushes off AbdulRachman's warning and brings his cousin Salim to AbdulRachman's sermon, but not only does Salim reject AbdulRachman's teachings, he also warns Aysel of Ziad's new beliefs. When Ziad discovers Salim's betrayal, he understands the importance of taqiyya and lies to Aysel about the depth of his new faith. Despite his new religious beliefs, Ziad still plans to attend Greifswald Medical School to be with Aysel rather than go to school in Hamburg, the most populous Muslim city in Germany, as AbdulRachman suggests. When AbdulRachman continues to pressure Ziad to go to Hamburg, Ziad fights back and accuses him of hypocrisy for living in Greifswald with his family. But then AbdulRachman shows Ziad a martyr's video made by a Palestinian girl just before she blew herself up on a crowded bus. The video inspires Ziad to dedicate himself more completely to Islam and to go to school in Hamburg instead of Greifswald. Ziad tells Aysel that he was rejected by Greifswald Medical School but Aysel finds his acceptance letter. They argue and break up over this issue with Ziad promising not to return until he can reconcile his faith with his love for her. In Hamburg, Ziad attends Al Quds mosque and joins a prayer group with members of the so called 'Hamburg Cell', the group of men that would carry out the 9/11 attacks. The Hamburg Cell's zealousness was such that those who would dare call into question the group's core tenets would be physically ousted from the meeting place. Some, fearing for their safety, even fled Hamburg after their ouster. At one point a University Student reports the Hamburg Cell's activities to the police, setting up a clash of wills between the easy going Ziad and the group's stern, humorless leader Mohammed Atta. The two men resolve their fight after Mohammed Atta agrees to implement Ziad's plan to intimidate the University Student into silence. But when a young woman who bears striking resemblance to Aysel appears out of nowhere and witnesses the Hamburg Cell beating the University Student, everyone runs away. Ravaged by guilt, Ziad returns to Aysel and begs to renew their relationship because 'you make me a better person', Aysel accepts and at his insistence they spend the weekend doing volunteer activities. But Ziad's honeymoon with Aysel is fleeting because as soon as he returns to Hamburg, Mohamed Atta accuses Ziad's friend Assam, whom Ziad personally recruited into the Hamburg Cell against their initial disapproval, of betrayal. Ziad refuses to believe the accusation but agrees to test Assam's loyalty and when Assam fails, Ziad beats him and warns him to leave Hamburg or die. Ziad's transformation is complete, he is a core member of the Hamburg Cell, eager to enlist in jihad. Yet still or perhaps because of his death wish, he continues to see Aysel until he must choose between training with Al Qaeda or marrying Aysel. He buys an engagement ring and proposes to Aysel, she says yes. But when he lets slip his radical political views in a conversation with Aysel's father, Mr. Sengun orders her not to marry Ziad. Heartbroken, Aysel returns Ziad's engagement ring and leaves with her father. Ziad leaves as well, to Afghanistan, where he trains the hardest of all the Hamburg Cell and vehemently agrees with an Imam's sermon to take back what rightfully belongs to the Muslims and reject the shame that the infidels have cast on them for their beliefs. Ziad returns from Afghanistan and proposes to Aysel again, this time she agrees to marry without her father's consent. But on their wedding night she discovers a four inch scar on Ziad's back and inquires if he did anything physical or dangerous during his vacation to Afghanistan. “We preached Islam, we built mosques, we did nothing dangerous, now let's start a family” says Ziad, to which Aysel responds with a nod and a smile. Shortly after their wedding Ziad disappears again. Aysel panics and calls everyone she can think of that might have a clue of Ziad's whereabouts. She works with Ziad's family and even implores AbdulRachman to tell Ziad that she is with child. When she somehow manages to contact undercover Al Qaeda agents, Al Qaeda orders Ziad to write a letter to her and appease her efforts to find him. He complies but then demands to return to Aysel, Al Qaeda has no choice but to let him leave. Ziad returns to Aysel, notices her whispering to Salim and suspects they may be having an affair when in fact she is telling Salim to keep her pregnancy a secret from Ziad. Ziad uncovers the truth from AbdulRachman and confronts Aysel about her pregnancy, she immediately confesses that she had a miscarriage and lied about it to spare his feelings. Ziad forgives her until he discovers contraceptive pills in her medicine cabinet and then he demands she tell him the truth. She refuses, he hits her, she challenges him for the truth about Afghanistan. “My activities in Afghanistan were peaceful” claims Ziad. “If your activities and your plans are peaceful then we can have a future together, then my father was wrong about you and I had a miscarriage and not an abortion” confesses Aysel. “Good bye Ms. Sengun, may Allah's mercy shine upon you a thousand times over.” responds Ziad. Aysel begs him to stay with promises of a life, a family, a future together, but Ziad refuses and returns to the Hamburg Cell. When Al Qaeda questions Mohamed Atta about Ziad's loyalty, Mohamed Atta attests that he now trusts Ziad most of all. Weeks later, Ziad's mother shows up at Aysel's doorstep, tells her that Ziad's father will soon have open heart surgery and asks Aysel to convince Ziad to come home. At first Aysel refuses but when Ziad's mother gives her a paid in full round trip airplane ticket to Ziad's residence in Florida and begs her to rescue Ziad from his fanaticism, Aysel complies. When Aysel meets Ziad in the Florida flight school where he is studying, Ziad reveals that he has already made plans to return to Lebanon for his dad's surgery. Aysel and Ziad reconcile. Weeks later, Ziad arrives at her doorstep and promises that he will return for Salim's wedding on September 22nd, 2001, and that afterwards he will never leave her again. September 11th, 2001, Ziad calls Aysel, says 'I love you' and hangs up. Then she falls asleep and has nightmares about the attacks on America but wakes up and keeps telling herself that it was just a dream. September 22nd, 2001, Aysel arrives at Salim's wedding. Everyone knows who she is and whispers behind her back until Ziad's mother announces Aysel as “my daughter and the maid of honor” They climb the balcony and search for Ziad amongst the guests. Weeks later, a noose hangs over Aysel's bed. She lies to her father and tells him she will deal with the pain by drowning herself in her studies. Just then two US Intelligence agents arrive at her door and deliver Ziad's suicide note written September 10th, 2001 to her. She reads it, weeps and then takes down her noose. Time passes, a happier Aysel orders a taxi to drive her to the international airport. On the way there she orders the taxi to stops besides a gang of Germans throwing food and fecal matter at a mosque. She makes eye contact with her ex-boyfriend, the man she broke up with to be with Ziad and then he persuades his friends to stop defacing the mosque. She sees a Middle Eastern man hiding his head between his arms, protesting his innocence, begging to be spared. She rolls down her window and looks at the man but then he lifts his head and she recognizes him as AbdulRachman. He begs her for help, she rolls up her window and orders the taxi to drive away. Finally, Aysel arrives in Turkey and meets the suitor set up by her parents. “Is this your first time in Turkey?” He asks. “I have been here before, but then I didn't appreciate it, there were parts of my heritage that I thought I could not accept, but now I can.” She responds

THE TRAGEDY OF ZIAD AND AYSEL