Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie

MK Gallery is screening Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie on Saturday 21 November at 3.30pm and Tuesday 24 November at 1.30pm. It's a documentary by Alex Gibney, running 107 minutes in English, and it takes a look at Salman Rushdie's recovery from the attack that left him severely injured.

What sets it apart is the footage. Much of the film comes from personal clips of Rushdie that have never been shown to the public, filmed by his wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths. Because she was the one behind the camera, you see him in a way you wouldn't in a standard interview—at home, in the middle of the long, slow process of getting back on his feet. Gibney describes the recovery 'in the broadest sense', and that's where the film spends its time. It doesn't just follow the physical side of things, but the recovery of his spirit and his hope for what comes next.

Rushdie puts words to it himself in the film: 'It's a story in which hatred — the knife as a metaphor of hate — is answered and finally overcome by love.' That's the thread that runs through it, the shift from the violence of the attack to the quiet, domestic work of coming back from it. It's a personal look at a public figure, and the footage from his wife gives it a closeness that a more distant documentary would miss.

Both screenings are free, so you can catch it on the Saturday afternoon or the Tuesday lunchtime if that suits you better. It's 107 minutes long, in English, and showing in the cinema at MK Gallery in Milton Keynes.