Profile

Profile is a thriller about a journalist who goes undercover online to study how the Islamic State recruits young European women and brings them to Syria. Working from London in 2014, Amy Whittaker sets up a Facebook account posing as a recent convert to Islam. A recruiter, a young British fighter, makes contact with her invented persona, and the exchanges develop into something more personal than either side expected. What begins as research turns into a daily involvement that is difficult for her to step away from, unfolding almost entirely through a computer screen.

Timur Bekmambetov directed the film, his sixth feature after Night Watch, Day Watch, Wanted, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Ben-Hur. He shares the screenplay with Britt Poulton and Olga Kharina, and produced alongside Kharina. Valene Kane plays Amy, with Shazad Latif as the recruiter, and Christine Adams, Amir Rahimzadeh, Morgan Watkins and Therica Wilson-Read in supporting roles. The film draws on Anna Erelle's account of her own experience inside an Islamic State recruitment network. Made in Russia and the United States, it took about 2 million dollars worldwide and runs 106 minutes. On IMDb it holds 6.7/10 from around 8,200 votes, and on TMDB 6.9/10 from 169 votes, a narrow gap between the two audiences.