Original subtitles

I was basically walking into one of the most dangerous places in the world,

Syria.

It's an adrenaline rush.

I knew

my life had changed forever.

I was in a Syrian al -Qaeda prison.

I had to get the hell out of there.

Do you think I'm frightened of you?

I will kill you.

It was the hardest moment of my life.

My life in the States was boring.

I arranged deals for...

third -party vendors with major insurance companies.

I wanted to do something else.

In December of 2012, I booked a one -way ticket to Syria. I wanted to photograph

the combat between the government and the Free Syrian Army.

Photography was something I was good at.

I knew I could make a career selling photographs if I was in the right place

the right time.

I didn't tell my family where I was going.

I decided to skip listening to my elderly Jewish mother trying to deter

No mother I've ever met is going to say, yeah, go, go when the bullets are

flying and the bombs are falling.

I arrived in Gazintep in Turkey around mid -December.

It's about an hour from the Syrian border.

Hey, Magid.

Hey, you made it, man.

Yeah, of course.

I arranged a fixer who would support me. His name was Magid. Let's go. Come.

Magid's job was to get me in with the Free Syrian Army so I can get to the

line.

I was nervous.

I was going in freelance.

I wasn't working with any organizations.

Are you ready for this, Matthew?

Yeah.

No second thoughts?

Okay. I was anxious to get started, to test my abilities.

You can't make a career for yourself without making a name for yourself.

So we arrived at the Syrian border.

It's a complete and total shift in atmosphere.

I was the only Westerner around.

Guards are carrying AKs. Some of them have pistols.

Keep smiling.

Salaam alaikum.

Give him your passport.

Give a border guard my passport.

Put a pack of cigarettes underneath it.

American?

Yes, sir.

So as easy as it was to get in, little did I know it wouldn't be

as easy to get out.

As I went through the border, it was a pretty intense feeling.

I followed the Syrian conflict from the beginning.

It was a brutal war, which created Islamic extremism throughout Syria and

rise of ISIS.

It was getting coverage, but not the type of coverage that I thought it

deserved.

Magic, deranged.

A host for me, a man named Sheikh Abu Nasser.

His area was still functioning. You would never know that there was a war

on.

This is the American, Matthew.

Welcome, welcome.

Abu Nasser was a very nice guy, warm, welcoming.

Abu's brothers are fighting with the Palestinian army.

Yes. They will take care of you. Free Syrian Army is basically the opposition

who rose up to fight against the Syrian government.

You're written now here, and you'll go to the front tomorrow.

Okay. Okay? Cool.

Take care of yourself.

Thanks for the ride.

You're welcome.

Good man. Call me whenever you need something.

Sure.

Okay.

The next day, we head to the Free Syrian Army headquarters.

Going into Aleppo was basically walking into one of the most dangerous places in

the world.

Now you see entire blocks that have just been completely destroyed.

It was nothing but rubble.

I didn't see one building that was actually salvageable.

It was Armageddon.

There were snipers hidden.

waiting to pick people off.

You can hear the guns being fired, but they're

everywhere.

Now it's the real deal. I realize I'm a lot more likely to get killed.

Abu Nasir was taking me to a group from the Presidium Army.

These people were fighting for their freedom.

As -salamu alaykum.

As -salamu alaykum.

How are you?

I'm Matthew.

I'm a photographer.

And I really respect what you guys are doing with the fighting, so I'm here to

photograph the action.

I said, you know, the point of me being there was to show the world what is

going on over here.

I wanted to basically take the same risks as the guys I was photographing to

earn their trust and respect.

I didn't have a ball -proof jacket, no helmet, no press T -shirt.

That's right, yeah.

Hey. Hey. Hey, you want to see some action?

Yeah, man.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

For two weeks, it was fascinating seeing how basically everyday people were

rising up and fighting a pretty well -armed war machine with no help

from the outside world.

They were good guys, the guys to be around. They were protective, they were

experienced, and they knew what they were doing.

It's an adrenaline rush.

You're just caught up in the moment, trying not to get yourself killed.

The fighting was as close as you can possibly get.

It was intense.

We heard the planes coming, smoke was rising like, you know, like it was hell.

It's nerve -wracking. Amaria!

Amaria!

Boom. It was deafening.

My

instincts

told me it was time to leave.

Got what I was there for.

I didn't get killed, wounded, or captured while doing so.

I made the decision that I'm going to head home.

There was no way.

I was going to have trouble selling these photographs.

So my ride arrived.

Hello. Before I got into the cab, I said goodbye to Abu Nasser, my host.

Thank you so much for your hospitality.

Good luck, my friend.

I was happy to be going home.

My family was waiting for me.

Okay, let's go.

We're traveling towards the Turkish border.

Suddenly, he slows down.

What's going on, man?

I don't know, I just... We stopped at a checkpoint.

He started talking with a couple soldiers.

They looked around.

Problem? Yes, problem.

We have to go another way.

We turned around and started heading back in the direction we came.

About ten minutes later, we were heading up the road.

Tires screech, force us to a stop.

The guy that jumped out of the front seat heading towards me was holding an

-47.

I knew my life had changed forever.

I am getting kidnapped.

You don't know where you're going. You don't know what they're going to do to

you. You don't know if they're going to shoot you when you get to where you're

going.

I didn't know who they were.

The most dangerous terrorist group in Syria, who I did not want to end up

was the al -Nusra Front.

Al -Nusra is basically al -Qaeda in Syria.

I went into the building, blindfolded.

Okay, okay, take it easy, man.

Okay. And I told myself, you know, stay calm.

They bring me into the room. They sit me down.

I knew that as an American, I would be a major prize.

A very commanding figure coming to the room.

What's your name?

My name's Matthew Schreier.

I'm a freelance photographer from America.

You are Mojra?

I'm Jader Mohamed.

What is your background?

I'm 34 years old. I was born and raised in New York. No.

What is your religion?

I was concerned that they would find out I was Jewish and kill me.

Christian.

Of course I'm lying to them.

I'm not going to admit that I'm Jewish.

Jewish pride.

What is Jewish pride? Getting your head cut off online?

Put your head against the wall.

If you hear the door open, you do this.

Okay?

I realized I was in the worst

possible place any human being can be in in the world.

A Syrian Al -Qaeda prison.

It was very cold in the cell.

You know, there's no heat.

You basically have what you're wearing and a couple of blankets to keep you

warm. That's it.

The first night, I was just basically pacing, just walking back and forth,

and forth.

My third day there, you know, the solitude was starting to get to me.

It wears down on you, solitude.

Started freaking out, screaming and yelling.

Cursed and crying.

Banging on the door.

General

Muhammad came

in.

Tone.

I'm going a little crazy.

Everything will be okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Later,

the door opened up.

Turn around.

Muhammad took me out of the cell.

What are you taking me? Am I going to go home?

Muhammad. I was like, am I going home?

You see?

Like you.

American.

Now you have somebody to talk to.

And my stomach just sank.

That was the moment I realized they weren't letting me go.

How long you been here?

Three months.

What's your name?

See ya.

I've never seen a person look so broken.

You okay?

Yeah, I guess.

Yeah.

I'm a journalist from Vermont.

I was covering a story.

Let me get you.

I hired some fixers.

They turned on me and handed me over to these fine fellows.

I couldn't help feeling bad for him. He was in such bad shape.

He'd been in a room for three months all by himself.

He was in shock.

Where do you live?

In the first few days, we

got to know each other a little.

Do you want some lunch?

Yeah, sure.

Speak Arabic?

Yeah. I lived in Yemen for a while and I've been studying Arabic and Islam here

in Syria.

I speak many languages.

Theo is a PhD, very educated, five -language speaking scholar.

Wow, my life's been... Less study, more action.

and he had a very privileged life.

He grew up on the Canadian border on 85 acres of land with a lake and a barn.

In the first few days, we started playing games.

Name the famous movie line.

And I was trying to take it as easy as possible. The first one I gave him was,

Say hello to my little friend.

Latin?

E .T.?

No, I don't know.

Yeah, I'm going to do it again for you.

Say hello to my little friend.

I'm sorry.

It's Scarface, man.

I was like, how can you have never seen Scarface?

What planet are you on, Theo?

We didn't have a TV when I was growing up.

We didn't have a TV.

And I was like, are you poor?

And he's like, no.

I was like, then what did you do for fun?

We read.

You read?

Yeah. All right, you read.

Sang? Sang.

Sounds like the James Waltons.

And I was like, oh, like, shoot me. Like, come in the room and shoot me. Put

out of my misery.

And that was the end of the game.

You clearly spent more time learning Arabic than watching classic American

movies.

Yeah. We were two completely different people.

One night I was sleeping soundly.

And this clicking sound wakes me up. Click, click, click.

Click, click, click.

What are you doing, Theo?

I'm cleaning my teeth.

He has a sesame seed shell and he's picking his teeth with it.

You mind doing it tomorrow?

And I very politely asked him, well, can you brush your teeth later?

Because you woke me up and I just want to get back to sleep.

Being locked in a room with someone like that gets you jaded.

You're with him 24 hours a day, seven days a week with no end in sight.

The first few weeks we were together, I did my best to build a friendship with

him. What if you could have any girl come in here now, any girl

you wanted?

My mom.

To kill time, I was asking these ridiculous what if questions.

What about food? What food would you have?

Watermelon.

No, what about a steak?

I don't eat meat.

Okay.

What if they would have come in here now with a gun and one bullet and say,

shoot Matt in the head and we'll let you go?

What would you do?

Shoot you in the head.

Really?

And once I realized that he was being serious, I said, well, I would never do

that to you.

I was like, because I'd never be able to look myself in a mirror.

Once I went home, and his reply is, I was joking.

Take it back. Yeah, right.

Now I realize I cannot trust this guy, ever, under any circumstances.

I was joking.

Yeah, funny joke.

And that I should never, ever reveal that I'm Jewish to this guy, because I'm

only endangering my life by letting him know that.

See me laughing?

I'm sorry. Hey, you what?

I'm sorry.

Man, I can't believe you said that.

And it was moments like this that just made it intolerable to be locked in a

room with him.

And he's provoking me.

He's provoking me. He's doing it on purpose.

I was just like, that's it.

I'm taking that noise.

There's gonna be some real problems. I will kill you.

You think I'm frightened of you?

Yeah.

Go ahead.

Hit me.

They hurt me.

You gonna do it too now?

I actually felt ashamed of myself for letting it deteriorate to that level.

I'm sorry, Theo.

No problem.

You understand?

Yeah.

I realized I had to get the hell out of there. I couldn't sit around waiting to

be killed or rescued.

One night, I'm just observing everything around me. You should stretch, Matt.

It might make you a nicer person.

And I look at the door.

What's that mark? How did it get there?

I put it there. I was trying to make a peephole. I did it with a spoon.

Soft.

That's cool.

And I said to myself, okay, if you can do this with a spoon, we have something

to work with here.

A couple days later, I came out of the stall in the bathroom and I started

washing my hands.

On the soap dish was a flat iron bracket.

I noticed there's a light switch.

I grabbed a flathead brass screw.

The screw fits perfectly into the bracket like a screwdriver and I can

Okay.

My plan was basically to perforate all around the door where the wood was thin.

Okay.

Let's cut through the thin bit first.

No. And he was like, no, I don't like your plan.

It's better to cut around the log and then punch that out to get to the key.

Okay, okay, okay.

We'll try your way first.

Just try not to make too much.

I stayed along the steel plate, and I just dug a groove in.

They're making way too much noise.

Suddenly, General Mohammed busted in with two guards.

What is this?

Rhinoscape?

It was at that moment that I seriously regretted everything that I just did.

I swear to God, I didn't do it.

I was thinking, this guy is going to kill him.

Pulls out his Glock, points it at his head like he's just going to blow him

right there.

Now the worst part of the entire captivity was about to begin.

They handcuffed him, and they took him out.

Within a minute, he was just screaming at the top of his lungs.

I just heard the whacking sound.

They came back.

And they threw Theo in the room.

He looked broken.

They beat him.

They humiliated him.

He was in such bad shape.

I try to talk my way out of it. I'm just a photographer.

I didn't do anything.

They take a car tire and they force it over my knees.

I was face down, trying to bury my face into the concrete like it was sand to

just, you know, deal with it.

They poured water on my feet

halfway through.

It hurt like hell.

And they flip me over, they take off the tire, they lift me up, and as soon as I

put weight on my feet, like my knees buckled because they were just like

like I couldn't even feel them anymore.

After the torture, you know, I was hobbling for probably close to a week.

And I started freaking out, like we're never going home.

Over the next couple of months, my morale went downhill.

And I had a breakdown.

I just couldn't take it anymore.

One night, the door opened up.

Where are you taking us? Where are you taking us?

Where are you taking us?

We had no idea where we were going or what was going to happen to us.

I was thinking either, you know, they're going to take us to some sort of

torture expert or they're just going to kill us.

We're being transferred.

I noticed the window in the room.

The window was completely broken. There was no glass.

I knew we had to get out on our own or we'd wait to get killed.

The next day, I get the bucket that they gave us to wash our clothes in.

And I put the bucket upside down under the window.

I started staring at the wires and studying them.

I started shaking every wire.

And they all moved. None of them were welded, and they were very thin.

No, I'm not doing it again.

You're endangering my life.

I'm trying to save your life.

Leo didn't want to go again at all. He was too scared.

He refused to even contemplate it.

That if you touch that window, I'm going to knock on the door and call the

guards.

I couldn't believe it.

He told me if I go near the window, he's going to knock on the door and rat me

out. You're going to tell him me?

I was like, you're going to tell Al -Qaeda on me?

He's like, what kind of an American are you?

Try me.

As soon as I took a step, he walked over to that door.

And he's looking at me like, what?

And I just wound up.

I was going to hit him with the bucket and just beat him within an inch of his

life, maybe a few inches past.

You're a disgrace.

You're a disgrace to the country. You know that?

You're a disgrace to America.

But I controlled myself because I said, all right, you got to bring him back.

You got to get him on board.

Damn it.

And the conclusion I came to was.

I had to make him so miserable he'd rather die than spend another minute in

room with me.

Yeah, you ain't a man.

You ain't a man's bone in your body.

You're un -American.

Insulting him and busting his chops and calling him an al -Qaeda prison sissy.

We're going to do this for a while.

About what?

About who I want to fight back.

Fight back?

Fight back, because you've got nothing.

You are...

I'm American. And the strategy was to motivate him to more or less want to get

away from me.

You're not a patriot.

You're a girl.

Inside, you're a girl.

That's where you are, you know that?

Oh, you're on the ground now.

Hey, come back up, look at me.

He finally just caved.

It took about three hours.

Okay, here's the plan.

After morning prayer, we let him come back, go to sleep.

Ten minutes before sunrise, we go.

And by now, Ramadan is in full swing.

So the jihadis, they wake up, they eat, they pray, and then most of them go back

to sleep.

So, you go your way, and I'll go mine.

Totally. We didn't want to be together another second longer than we had to.

I know you hate me, but we're both Americans.

Right?

Ten more, man.

We shook hands.

We needed to work together.

Allahu Akbar.

The next morning, we were ready.

The perfect time for the escape was after the dawn prayer, which was about

minutes before sunrise.

When the guards fall back asleep, as few people awake as possible.

That's when the adrenaline really started to kick in.

It was like, let's do it, let's go.

And I ripped that window apart.

Okay.

Level me up.

It boosts me up.

And I go out the window, and I get my arm out, I get my head out.

I'm half

free,

and I'm half in, and I get stuck.

I got back in the room. I was freaking out.

Superman.

With both arms. Yeah.

Both arms.

Both arms.

I have to do this differently.

Okay.

I go with two arms over my head like Superman.

And he's pushing me and pushing me.

I suck my stomach in.

And he's going with one arm.

There was no way for him to level himself out so I can pull him.

It was so tight, and it's impossible for me to just pull him out. He was about a

half an inch wider than me.

There was just no way to get him out.

I'm just... waiting for one of the guards to come over and empty his clip

out into my face.

Come back.

It was either I get shot or I go.

Come back.

I had to make a decision, you know, what do I do?

I said, I got to go.

And he's like, come back, man.

I can't.

I can't come back.

I couldn't leave until he said, go.

It was the hardest moment of my life.

The final words I said to him were, I'll get help.

I promise.

Okay.

You go.

I did everything I could to help bring him home.

I have nothing to hide.

I'm an American, and Americans stick together even if we hate each other. And

I'm not going to be known as the American who leaves another American

I'm proud of who I see in the mirror.

I see a guy who stood tall and did the right thing.

I see a guy who represented his country and his people.

The way a soldier would be expected to do so.

I see a Jew who punked Al Qaeda after seven months and escaped.

Who fooled them and made them look like the biggest morons that ever lived.

And I'm proud of that.