HBO's harrowing 'Terror in Mumbai'

There's nothing entertaining in the 64-minute HBO documentary "Terror in Mumbai" (8 tonight), a harrowing, disturbing chronicle of last year's terrorist attacks in India. If anything, the horror on display made me feel guilty for enjoying the faux terrorism used as entertainment in shows like "24" and "Sleeper Cell."

Narrated by CNN's Fareed Zakaria, the film tells the story of what happened on Nov. 26, 2008, when 10 Pakistani men went on a terror spree through Mumbai that killed 170 and injured scores of others. Produced and directed by Dan Reed, the film uses interviews with eyewitness and survivors to tell the story but it also uses the words of the terrorists, captured when Indian security forces tapped into their cell phone conversations.

It's difficult to imagine the motivation of these young men, especially when the anguish they caused is so clear on the face of one 12-year-old boy, a Muslim like the terrorists who killed his mother and father.

If it wasn't so terrifying, there's almost some humor - and maybe even some recognition of ourselves - in the naivete of the young men sent to kill innocent civilians. When they get to the top floors of a swanky hotel, they're distracted from their mission by the opulence they see, gawking at big-screen computer monitors and suites with multiple kitchens. But then the killing resumes.

So why should viewers tune in? To be better informed. To understand how comparatively lucky America has been in the years after 9-11 and to hopefully learn that hate will only put us at the same level as the terrorists who seek to do us harm.