Caliphate 2020

Pervin [Gizem Erdogan] is a young Muslim woman from Sweden who lives in Raqqa, the ISIS-controlled capital of Syria, with her husband Husam [Amed Bozan] and their newborn daughter Latifa. Feeling estranged from life under occupation, she resolves to return home. After quietly obtaining a cell phone from a neighbor, she reaches out to Dolores [Monica Albornoz], an anti-radicalization activist in Sweden, who in turn connects her with Fatima [Aliette Opheim], a Swedish Security Service agent who is at odds with her own leadership after a troubling incident involving a figure named Lorentz. Fatima speaks to Pervin by phone, and proposes a dangerous bargain: she will help with a safe return to Sweden for Pervin, Husam, and Latifa in exchange for details about a looming terror attack. The exchange sets off a tense, paranoid dance between fear, loyalty, and duty as Pervin tries to navigate the line between survival and complicity.

Pervin tells Fatima about a mysterious figure known as Al Musafir, or the Traveler, who is supposedly planning the attack from within Sweden. Al Musafir is Ibrahim Haddad, known to his recruits as Ibbe, a high school teacher’s assistant who has deftly woven himself into a network of eager followers. Ibbe has pulled two brothers into his orbit—Jakob, a former prisoner with a troubled past, and Emil, the younger sibling who battles mental health issues—though the brothers’ relationship with their mother adds a layer of friction to the family dynamics that Ibbe exploits. Ibbe’s reach expands to Miryam, a girl raised in Baghdad, whom he promises to marry off in exchange for her help. Ibbe’s strategy hinges on shaping vulnerable youths to see the Caliphate as a place of power and belonging.

Ibbe’s method involves a troubling indoctrination of young girls at the school, where he shows ISIS recruitment videos and channels the fantasy of luxury and belonging in a distant, idealized Islamic state. Two girls drawn into the circle are Sulle [Nora Rios] and Kerima [Amanda Sohrabi], both 15, who begin wearing the hijab and absorbing lessons framed as Sharia law. The lure of “better lives” and a sense of purpose overrides the ordinary pressures they face at home. Sulle’s parents grow anxious and attempt to intervene, even threatening to marry her off to a relative in Jordan to break the radical pull. In a grim turn, Sulle’s radicalization begins to draw in her younger sister, Lisha [Yussra El Abdouni], though the implications of that shift are not fully understood at the time. Kerima, who endures the violence of an alcoholic father with PTSD after combat service, finds refuge with Ibbe as he intensifies his indoctrination.

Fatima keeps her source a secret from her superiors, offering only vague details about the plot. Her supervisors want her to step back, and she faces consequences for a cannabis incident, yet she persists, staying in touch with Calle, a colleague at the Security Service who shares the sense that the threat runs deeper than official channels acknowledge. Fatima continues sifting through Pervin’s information, trying to cast a clearer line from a shooting range to a broader conspiracy, and she begins tracing Jakob and Emil through the license plates and movements that Pervin reveals.

Dolores and Ibbe attend an anti-radicalization meeting, where a crucial clue surfaces when Dolores notices a tattoo on Ibbe’s forearm that appears in the ISIS video. Later, at a cafe, Dolores recognizes the tattoo on Ibbe and tries to relay the information to Fatima. When Dolores goes to pass on the message, she is stabbed and killed, which triggers a rapid police response. Fatima arrives to find the aftermath of a deadly confrontation and, suddenly, becomes a person of interest herself as she attempts to flee the ensuing investigation. She hides in the residence of a colleague of her father, seeking a way to protect Pervin and the others while evading a pursuit that intensifies by the hour.

Pervin’s precarious situation worsens when Ahmed, one of Husam’s colleagues, confronts her at night, intrusively intruding into her life and trying to exert control. He assaults her and is about to kill her, but Pervin defends herself with a weapon and kills him, stashing the body in a neighbor’s well. Husam, under the influence of sleeping pills, wanders into the kitchen and sees blood—an impression that will haunt him as Pervin later reveals the truth. The aftermath shifts the balance of trust: Fatima, determined to protect the wider plan, schemes to extract Pervin and her family from Raqqa, while Sulle and Kerima’s fate becomes increasingly intertwined with Ibbe’s broader designs.

As the clock ticks, Sulle and Kerima secure plane tickets to Turkey, with Ibbe orchestrating their departure. Sulle’s sister Lisha accompanies them for the journey, and the family’s fear escalates as Suleiman, Lisha’s father, who often speaks against religious fervor, attempts to keep track of his daughters from afar. A chain of actions leads Calle to mobilize authorities across Germany and Turkey, and a tense chase unfolds as the sisters’ passports are swapped, redirecting their path toward Ankara rather than Istanbul. The rescue operation succeeds for Sulle and Kerima, while Lisha’s fate remains uncertain as she is on the way toward Syria.

Calle persuades Fatima to seek assistance from Pervin to rescue Lisha, and the plan evolves into a promise: Pervin would return to Syria to help evacuate all of them. To secure that promise, Pervin convinces Husam to marry Lisha as his second wife, a decision that reflects the web of coercion, fear, and desperate bargaining that defines the characters’ movements. Jakob’s influence lingers as he fatally stabs his mother in his flight from the law, and Fatima continues to pursue Jakob and Emil, only to lose the trail when they switch cars. Fatima is captured just as the window to intervene closes, and she must bargain for her freedom with the information she has gathered. In exchange for leniency, she agrees to help extricate Husam, Pervin, and Lisha from the safety of a precarious escape.

The security service has been aware of the broader plot all along, and their knowledge ultimately prevails. Ibbe detonates a bomb in a garage and escapes by blending into a crowd, slipping away in disguise. Fatima finally travels to Syria with a plan to rescue Pervin, Lisha, and Husam. Just as they near safety, Omar—Husam’s colleague—arrives to push Husam toward a suicide mission. Lisha, now thoroughly radicalized beyond her sister, reveals the escape plan to Omar, who shoots Pervin in the back and seems ready to shoot Husam as well. Fatima arrives in time to shoot Omar dead and pull the others to safety. They reach the border and exit Raqqa, but not before Pervin succumbs at the border crossing. Fatima carries Husam and the traumatized Lisha away from danger, while Lisha’s future remains uncertain, a stark reminder of the price paid for trying to outrun extremism.

In the aftermath, Sulle and Kerima endure interrogations by the Security Service. Sulle, seeking to shield her sister, reveals Ibbe’s identity, while Kerima confronts the deepening despair and attempts suicide while in a mental health facility. Calle returns to the school to capture Ibbe, yet Ibbe evades him, and Kerima reconnects with Ibbe, agreeing to participate in a renewed attack targeting a girls’ concert. Kerima is equipped with a suicide vest, and Ibbe tries to maintain a belief that Sulle is part of the plot, a lie that threatens to destroy the fragile sense of trust between them. At the concert, Kerima is unable to remove the vest, warns others to flee, and has a final, heartrending exchange with a tearful Sulle over the phone. In the end, Ibbe detonates the bomb, sacrificing Kerima and sealing Ibbe’s brutal plan in a final, devastating act. The film closes on the stark consequences of radicalization: innocence lost, families strained beyond repair, and the international effort to disrupt terror unfolding against the backdrop of a fragile, uneasy peace.