Profile creates tension at every turn, leading to a climactic ending that leaves viewers wanting more.
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, Profile revolves around the story of an investigative journalist who creates a new Facebook profile to investigate the recruitment of young European women by ISIS.
This leads her to a virtual face-to-face with an actual ISIS recreator which endangers her safety. The thriller movie is based on the book In the Skin of Jihadist by Anna Erelle.
Profile had its world premiere at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival on February 17, 2018. It then premiered in the United States on May 14, 2021.
Profile Plot Summary & Ending Explained
Profile begins with an investigative journalist named Amy Whittaker (Valene Kane) creating a fake Facebook profile under the name of Melody Nelson.
Amy’s editor, Vick (Christine Adams), gives her a 38-hour deadline to submit her story after telling her that she is finding a strategy to get in contact with direct ISIS recruiters.
The reasoning behind her desperate attempt to get solid leads comes from the ongoing recruitment of young European women by ISIS.
She comes across a report about a British girl who converted to Islam and was recruited by ISIS after moving to Syria. However, the girl tragically died after trying to escape.
As a result, she makes it her mission to expose the complex recruitment process.
While doing her job, Amy is also trying to find the right balance between calling her boyfriend Matt (Morgan Watkins), her best friend Kathy (Emma Carter), and Vick.
The movie also takes place entirely on Amy’s screen. This approach is called a Screenlife production where the viewers immerse themselves in the life of the protagonist via her computer screen.
Who Is Abu Bilel? ISIS Ties & Amy’s New Friend Explained
Abu Bilel Al-Britani (Shazad Latif) is the ISIS recruiter who immediately messages Amy (as Melody) after he notices that she has been consistently sharing his videos about the group on Facebook.
The pair get to know each other via Messenger and the conversation quickly shifts to Skype, meaning that Amy needs to pose as an actual Islamic girl to deceive Bilel.
She contacts Vick to ask one of their IT guys, Lou, to record every conversation they will have on Skype for evidence. He is also present during the calls to guide her since he is Muslim.
She does a quick research on how to look younger on camera and jotting down notes about the process of converting to Islam to protect her cover.
Bilel uses his charm to try and lure Amy into joining ISIS. It also doesn’t help that she is a sloppy and unprepared journalist which makes her easy prey for a charismatic and determined ISIS recruiter like Bilel.
The conversation between the pair starts as informal, with Amy using it as an opportunity to extract information from Bilel about ISIS and the recruitment process.
She needs to be careful, though, since Lou reminds her that ISIS has a “giant IT department” and they have “hackers all over the world” who can find out what she has been doing.
However, things take a turn in Profile after Amy starts to fall in love with Bilel after talking to him for a while.
Unpacking Bilel’s Recruiting Tactics
Aside from the usual getting-to-know stage, part of Bilel’s recruitment process involves cooking meals together, playing on their target’s emotions, and manipulating them into moving to Syria anchored by a promise of a lavish lifestyle once they get there.
While Amy is aware that all of it is a ruse, Bilel’s charm is hard to deny and she slowly gets manipulated after developing real feelings for him.
As the conversation gets more personal, Amy realizes that she is falling into Bilel’s trap, but she can’t do anything about it due to her strong feelings.
It is a matter of push and pull for the investigative journalist as lines between her personal and fake life as Melody are blurred due to her attachment to Bilel.
It even comes to a point where she is distant toward Vick and Matt, causing concern from her peers.
At one point, after Bilel opens up about his family, Amy starts to relate and it even comes to a point that she almost tells him the truth about her identity.
This is why Bilel’s tactics are scary since his manipulative nature can easily control Amy which pushes her to the brink.
Did Belil Die?
The conversations between Amy and Bilel have been going on for a while making her chief editor, Vick, wary of the situation.
Vick tells Amy to pull out of the conversation since she sees that she has become “somebody else,” but she will not do so because she believes that it will catapult her career to new heights due to the nature of the story.
When she is about to learn how they transport girls to Syria (aka the crucial information she needs for her report), Bilel and his troops get attacked, leading to a panicked Amy thinking that he might be dead.
She then makes a crucial mistake by posting a heartfelt message about Bilel on her personal Facebook instead of the fake Melody Nelson account.
After Vick insists on sending the video of the explosion that seemingly killed Bilel, Amy agrees, but then his now-alive ISIS lover calls him to say that they are getting married over Skype.
In a shocking turn of events, Amy agrees and the pair are married online with two of Bilel’s friends serving as witnesses. She thinks that it was just a joke, though, Bilel insists that it is real.
The journalist, with no choice left to make, goes over the process of coming to Syria to be with Bilel. Matt, her boyfriend, ends up breaking up with her.
Amy decides to push through into going to Syria, but she documents herself doing it for her report.
Profile Ending Explained: What Happened to Amy?
In Profile‘s ending, Amy ends up in Amsterdam and she agrees to meet Bilel in person in Turkey before moving to Syria.
However, a change of plans ensues when Bilel tells Amy that he will not make the trip and this sends the journalist into a panic attack.
An argument between Bilel and Amy shows the terrorist’s true colors when he mentions that he is wanted internationally and that he has a battalion of soldiers at his disposal.
Amy decides to leave and not move forward with her trip to Turkey, but it is too late since her undercover shenanigans lead her life to a downward spiral.
Matt already has a new girl back in London while Vick already canceled the story. Meanwhile, her best friend, Kathy, does not want to see her due to the dangerous nature of her report.
Knowing that she has no life to go back to in London, Amy seemingly pushes through with her newfound life with Bilel.
Given that she records every Skype call that she had with Bilel, she reviews the footage where he is speaking Arabic to his connection at Border Control and this is where she finds out the truth.
She seeks the help of his Muslim friend and co-worker, Lou, to translate what he said and he tells her that it means that Belil is “sending another girl tomorrow” and she is the “third girl this month.”
Profile‘s ending shows Bilel telling Amy that he knows everything after she accidentally reveals her ticket with her name on it in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment during one of their Skype calls.
He threatens her with a video containing her full name and picture which he will send to his ISIS brothers if she decides to publish the story.
The movie ends with Amy telling Vick to run the story even if it means that she might end up being killed.
Profile then reveals that the story was published in December 2014, leading to the arrests of six people who were involved with Jihadi recruitment networks.
As for Amy, the only update about her is the police’s advice to change her name and address. It is quite unfortunate that the movie ends with no real conclusion since it does not answer if she is dead or has been living off the grid.
Profile is available to stream on Peacock.
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