Sudan, approximately thirty or thirty-five years ago, urban setting. A child crosses the camera and waves over the balcony to a man below getting into a small sedan. A blast, an explosion, fire consumes the vehicle immediately—the child watches soberly. This is the back story for the main protagonist in Traitor, as well as being representing actual memories of some adults today, raised in developing countries around the world. It is a disturbing back story, not so much because the boy’s father is gone from his life in such an abrupt, violent fashion, but because it reminds us that Sudan was, a lifetime ago, in this same viscous cycle of terror and death, escalated beyond feudal skirmishes to full scale genocide through the miracle of modern weapons.

Most of us have memories very dissimilar to our fellow global citizens in these unsettled countries. That contrast in back stories haunted me well into Traitor, as Don Cheadle’s face replaced that of the younger self, Samir Horn. His character, the adult Samir, is behind the wheel of a beat-up delivery-style truck, bouncing and weaving through streets of another third world city slum. The action never lets up the entire movie, as we move with Samir through the shadow world of weapons deals and fundamentalist Muslim extremists.

We don’t know quite who Samir is, nor what has brought him to this crossroads, although we quickly learn several pertinent issues are in play. He is both an accomplished close-hand combat trained salesman who offers expertise in explosives as part of the sales transaction—and a man of deep faith.

As the story unfolds, Samir reveals his philosophy about true Muslim belief, arms dealers and buyers, and the world for which he was trained during his time in military service. He wryly observed the good guys and the bad guys shift with time and political correctness. Traitor achieves high velocity within minutes of the lights going down, the action relentless, the story itself relying heavily on good character development to acquire and retain our interest. The main characters in parallel stories, meet and part repeatedly, in typical spy-thriller storytelling fashion, with everyone in attendance for the climax and twist ending.

More significant is the insightful moments between Samir and his unlikely new friend, Omar, played winningly by the French actor, darkly handsome Said Taghmaoui. Over chess, they spar on the intellectual line between faith and extremist propaganda. Cementing a relationship of like minds, Samir and Omar relentlessly pursue their ‘orders’, ultimately to test their loyalties to the religion and each other. Their movements from Yemen to France to Canada and the United States are closely followed by two FBI agents. Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce as this generation’s Gary Oldman) is the senior agent with a conscious. He is an analyst who once was on the path to being a preacher, descended from generations of faith-based men. His character, Clayton, early on believes there is more to Samir than traitorous intentions.

Clayton’s subordinate, Max Archer is more pragmatic and certainly the candidate to our now infamous interrogation methodology. Neal McDonough divests himself well in this role, the high contrast action hero Max, life-long friend and foil to Clayton’s thoughtful, more diplomatic approach to gathering intelligence. They, too, engage in conversations on religion, examining the global faith-based landscape, both its similarities and its contrasts. This is all so much drivel if you can’t follow these dueling dialogues which take place as often as not in the pitched heat of chases, prison drama, explosives training workshops, high stakes armament deals and deployment of operatives.

Traitor is an important film to watch. Every bit of insight we gain in this titanic struggle brings us closer to resolution. The feud started by our ancestors is still claiming massive fatalities, entrenching hatred ever deeper, all escalating beyond manageable levels.