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"(T)ERROR"

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U.S. Documentary

If "Citizenfour" had you paranoid at how invasive the National Security Agency can be, the eye-opening documentary "(T)ERROR" will scare you about how the FBI can destroy lives when it's blundering. The movie introduces Saeed, aka "Shariff," a Muslim ex-con and baker who works as an informant (or "CHS," for "confidential human source") for the FBI. He has helped the Feds set up several sting operations for so-called terrorist plots, and is in Pittsburgh working to egg on one Muslim toward making some sort of threat. Directors Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe, unbeknownst to the FBI, follows Shariff around Pittsburgh as he insinuates himself into his target's life. Then the filmmakers do something very daring: They start filming the target, Khalifah, who is beginning to suspect the FBI is trying to set him up. With neither side knowing the other is being filmed, Cabral and Sutcliffe daringly capture both sides of this deceptive game — which would be funny if such operations hadn't put nearly 500 people in prison. It's the sort of movie around which congressional investigations are, or at least should be, built.

- Sean P. Means

"(T)ERROR" is screening in the U.S. Documentary competition of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. It screens again: Thursday, 5:30 p.m., Prospector Square Theatre, Park City; Friday, 9 a.m., Temple Theatre, Park City; Saturday, 3 p.m., Broadway Centre Cinema 6, Salt Lake City.