Top documentary! But found the the Kenyan response frustrating and as I would imagine an unskilled force to be. At no point during the documentary was there any mention of an outside help like the off duty British Special Forces soldier that entered the mall and retrieved several hostages? Despite the CCTV footage being brilliantly strung together and documented it seemed the local forces and police responded in quite a poor and untrained Manor.
10 Reviews
About the bravery of the civilians
Geeky Randy16 December 2014
Chilling HBO documentary covering the upmarket Westgate shopping mall shooting in Nairobi, Kenya. Mostly pieced together by surveillance footage (and even some cellphone video), leaving the viewer to get as up close and personal as a retelling account can get. The film lets the horror unfold without pulling any punches, an approach that makes this documentary recommended only for the strong stomached viewer. TERROR AT THE MALL is an overall commendable piece for highlighting the bravery of the civilians, and also making its focus on the victims as opposed to the shooters.
***½ (out of four)
***½ (out of four)
Chilling
leebannister-7652715 November 2021
This is a detailed a very graphic account of a terrible tragedy. Very well documented which sparks so many questions about not only the worst side of Islam but the inept, incapable and corrupt side of Kenya. It also shows the very best in Humanity when it comes to helping one another, some true heroes and heroines who need to be congratulated on their bravery.
The best documentary about the Westgate mall terrorist attack
isaktush18 September 2014
Warning: Spoilers
HBO comes to Kenya and does a better documentary film about Westgate than any Kenyan Media house. "Terror at the Mall" is a masterpiece. First they assemble all the CCTV footage from all the cameras located in and out of the building. Then they track down survivors from the footage and interview about a dozen coherent survivors. After that they piece together the stories, match the stories with the CCTV footage and get two or more survivors to narrate different segments of a particular story. In classic American fashion, the heroes stand out, one especially, Abdul Haji, is a delight to watch. He slides across the floor like a pro and waves two fingers at the target like you see 'em do in the movies. Yet he is only wearing a casual shirt and leading a team of plain-clothed cops who in their words, "could not wait any longer outside for reinforcements or the recce squad." Talking of the Recce squad, they had those cowards cornered before the military invaded the building and shot three of the elite cops. And in the scene where one of the elite men exiting the building carrying a wounded colleague exclaims, "f**k them!!" referring to the KDF soldiers, you can almost agree with him. Because on their own, the first responders rescued more people than the KDF who will best be remembered for looting the shops and throwing a bomb on the building. Yes, there's CCTV footage of a bomb hitting the building from the inside - enough of those lies about terrorists burning mattresses. But Haji is not the only hero. At the beginning the Asian journalist who provided most of the footage that was not retrieved from the CCTV systems explained how he got to the scene. "I got a call from a friend who told me not to go to Westgate, there's a robbery and they've wounded people, so I grabbed the camera and drove down there." The journalist wore a mask and followed the cops into the building. That's perhaps the only funny bit in the documentary. The rest is a gripping, heart-wrenching affair!
Horrifying but well-made documentary
elizrug25 February 2022
An entire documentary of footage from the event is hard to come by. I have a hard time watching anything without doing something while I watch and I watched this in its entirety without taking my eyes off the screen. It was in part morbid fascination but mainly I was just enthralled and caught up in what was happening. There were a lot of very brave people in that mall and I hope all of them have recovered from whatever wounds, physical or mental, they received.
And the Kenyan army in 2014? Absolutely useless.
And the Kenyan army in 2014? Absolutely useless.
Edge of the seat viewing
Leofwine_draca18 September 2021
This was a really good HBO documentary about a single terrorist attack in Kenya. I'd followed the story at the time but this captured the suspense and the horror of the unfolding situation in a truly remarkable way. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.
Too close to home and my heart
mrrcave24 June 2022
Having lived in Kenya for nearly 7 years as a child this nation has always felt like a second home to me.
Watching this documentary I was in tears. Tears mixed with anger, horror, shock and repulsion for those who carried out this cowardly and disgusting act. An act supposedly carried out in the name of religion .... hence my want and belief to have NO part in religion whatsoever. Any person who dresses up such actions as these in the name of religion does not warrant any place on this earth at all in my book.
Praise indeed to the people who tell their story of survival and the people behind piecing the footage together. The resultant viewing is.... well beyond words, and even this review to me can never reflect the disgust for parts of the human race. How? Why? Why hurt, kill and subject people to such horrors?
Well done to the makers. Thank you for telling a story which needed to be told.
For those who survived; I cannot imagine your thoughts, the terror and sense of hopelessness when facing such a display of brutality. I only hope you lives now are peaceful, full of love and you're able to live as good a life as you possibly can after this.
Watching this documentary I was in tears. Tears mixed with anger, horror, shock and repulsion for those who carried out this cowardly and disgusting act. An act supposedly carried out in the name of religion .... hence my want and belief to have NO part in religion whatsoever. Any person who dresses up such actions as these in the name of religion does not warrant any place on this earth at all in my book.
Praise indeed to the people who tell their story of survival and the people behind piecing the footage together. The resultant viewing is.... well beyond words, and even this review to me can never reflect the disgust for parts of the human race. How? Why? Why hurt, kill and subject people to such horrors?
Well done to the makers. Thank you for telling a story which needed to be told.
For those who survived; I cannot imagine your thoughts, the terror and sense of hopelessness when facing such a display of brutality. I only hope you lives now are peaceful, full of love and you're able to live as good a life as you possibly can after this.
Gut wrenching but real world
pcristianjohnson28 February 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This one like a few other documentaries I've watched just left me with a sense of dread. But it's the kind of dread that I think should be felt and witnessed by some as a reminder while watching it from the comfort and coziness of one's living room or bedroom that things like this happen in the world pretty much daily. It is very graphic and does not shy away from the violence these four terrorists committed. And while not every act of horror committed in the world is a "terrorist" act they still happen they just don't always get media attention. And I will say several instances of the decisions made by law enforcement and military officials made, actually scratch that many of the decisions they made pissed me off to my core. This is a must see but be prepared, and have a strong stomach and core. I don't believe anyone under the age of 17 should be watching this one.
Intensity on steroids!
MoviemanfromCanada1 July 2022
left out a pretty massive part of the story
thomaseglinton27 February 2024
Why was nothing said about Obi Wan Nairobi? The most likely reason is the British govt's gag order on Christian Craighead preventing him from releasing any of the details of what he did in Nairobi. - no reason for the Ministry of Defence's court case that gagged Craighead from writing a book other than the fact that he acted outside of his official capacity which could be seen as an embarrassment for UKSF. Which is ridiculous as the SAS motto is literally who dares wins, safe to say going into an active terror attack alone and saving hundreds of lives constitutes daring. If you're interested in him, Christian has an episode on the Shawn Ryan show where he talks about his life story and his time in the military - unfortunately, he still inst allowed to say anything about what happened in the hotel but he does talk about what he was doing beforehand along with some of his now declassified missions that are very interesting to say the least. 10/10 would recommend giving it a watch if you're even remotely interested in SF operators.
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