'Britz' is compelling

An entertaining and provocative character-driven thriller, BBC America's "Britz" tells the story of a brother and sister on two distinctly different paths in a two-part miniseries set against the backdrop of Muslim intolerance and the feelings it foments.

Part 1 airs Sunday at 6, 8:30 and 11 p.m.; Part 2 airs Monday at 6, 9 and 11:30 p.m.

"Britz," written and directed by Peter Kosminsky ("Peacekeepers"), uses a novel structural approach: Night one is told from the point of view of law student Sohail (Riz Ahmed), who assimilates into British culture to the point of landing a job with MI-5, the British equivalent of the American FBI.

In night two, the focus is on Sohail's sister, Nasima (Manjinder Virk), a medical student who crusades against what she sees as oppressive government policies stemming from the American 9/11 and British 7/7 attacks (a poster in her room features a picture of President Bush and the words "World's 1 Terrorist").

The story is incomplete without seeing both nights, particularly after a cliffhanger that ends Sohail's story.

Night one tells the more propulsive, exciting story. It begins with Sohail, in Pakistan, identifying a badly burned body and breaking into tears. Then viewers are taken back in time to two months earlier as Sohail shuttles between school and his family's home in Northern England, where he argues with Nasima about tactics in response to what she sees as government-sanctioned discrimination against Muslims.

"If the police are detaining people illegally, get a lawyer and use the law to stop them, not your bloody demonstrations," Sohail says. Of course, he's a bit naive about the law and what government authorities have given themselves the power to do, something shown more dramatically in night two.

Sohail's story brings to mind Showtime's "Sleeper Cell," including an unbelievable bedroom detour that's extraneous to the story. Nasima's story is quieter and less exciting — even a tad boring at points — but it helps flesh out some of what viewers saw Sohail and Nasima reacting to in night one.

Even after joining MI-5, Sohail finds himself on the receiving end of discriminatory police practices, proclaiming, "This is exactly why people are getting radicalized." One of the primary reasons for "Britz" to exist is to show the impact of intolerance and the ways in which terrorists are not born, they're made through years of slights and intimidation.

At one point, Nasima even lashes out at viewers, saying they cannot be considered innocent victims of terrorism because "you keep electing this government."

Obviously, there's no defense for terrorism, but there are explanations, which is what "Britz" attempts to show. Viewers may also find irony in the depiction of intolerance, hate and fear among adherents to Islam that's mirrored among other religious extremists (e.g., American citizens who use their religion as a reason to vote to legalize discrimination against gays or Christians who bomb abortion clinics).

"It's designed to rock the boat and ask questions," Ahmed said at a BBC America press conference in July. "Our hope is this is a program that encourages the asking of difficult questions and debate of an issue that maybe hasn't received as much coverage stateside as it has in the U.K."

Entertainment such as "Britz" shouldn't be the end-all, be-all for this sort of conversation, but it does provide an interesting (and entertaining) springboard for the discussion of the root causes of terrorism in modern times.