Sweden is now properly celebrated as the Land that Called Coronavirus Correctly. But in the distant past, those with long memories may recall, it had a less flattering reputation as the Land Absolutely Ruddy Swarming With Jihadists. Caliphate — an eight part Swedish-made drama on Netflix — takes you back there in vivid and compelling detail.
Partly, it’s an edge-of-seat thriller about a major terrorist attack on Swedish soil —from its conception in Isis-held Raqqa to its execution (or its foiling by the security services: I haven’t got there yet so I don’t know) by a mix of radicalised locals and hardened Isis killers flown in from Syria. Partly, it’s a fascinating and plausible depiction of what it’s like to be a Muslim immigrant in Sweden and how easy it is to be led astray.
Don’t worry: this isn’t some kind of hideous, liberal-left Scandinavian apologia for Islamic terrorism. The Isis jihadists we meet in Raqqa are misfits, losers and psychopaths getting off on legitimised rape, licensed misogyny and ultraviolence; their sympathisers in Sweden are sinister, cynical and devious.
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