Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie Review: Riveting, Gripping, A Must See

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Category: Haute This Issue

Published on Monday, 21 September 2026 11:35

Written by Janet Walker

Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie, from Abramorama, presents the shocking 2022 attack on the author and writer in Chautauqua, New York and the aftermath, the loss, the rehabilitation, the processing, and finally a return to life.

The documentary, directed by Alex Gibney, begins with flashes of the fall afternoon. The well-known Rushdie, who has lived with a fatwah, or death sentence, on his life for 33 years, waving to the crowd that had gathered in the auditorium, lowering himself in the oversized leather chair, when a man runs up the aisle, gains speed on the slope, and quickly jumps the three steps to the stage and begins to randomly stab and slash him.

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We jump to the hospital, Rushdie we see is in bad shape, and with all the injuries we also see the assailant, had no real knowledge of how to kill someone with a knife. His wild slashings created many wounds, but the random stabs missed important arteries, and Rushdie’s many brutal facial wounds were still inches from the juguler vein.

The most graphic and noticeable of course was the stab to his eye, which both Rushdie and his wife, author and poet, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, wanted documented. The protruding red bulge sat extended outside the eye socket, with the pupil, like a large dead fish eye, staring blankly. The shocking physical damage accompanied by deep multi-colored bruises, still purple formed rings around his neck and across his entire body, hand, face, and stomach, were devastating to see, and without doubt, equally devastating for Rushdie and his wife to experience.

For much of his career, Salman Rushdie has been associated with one book, The Satanic Verses, and the subsequent global uprising from the decree issued on February 14, 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, who called from Rushdie’s execution. This galvanized Muslin communities around the world who burned the author in effigy, on the streets of London, and New York, and instigated civil unrest in other cities.

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For decades, Rushdie became a prisoner of his own fame. The Satanic Verses catapulted him to literary distinction and prominence, and finally more than a decade later, the government of Iran walked backed, publicly, the statements. Yet the damage was done. As he explained in the film, he was made an object of hate, "And if you are an object of hate people will hate you."

The documentary returns to the hospital, now day 10, and we see the progress. The healing process is slow, each day is a small win, awake, alive, the bruises are not so vibrant reminders of the animal’s attack.

The documentary returns to the past, to the days leading up to this one, and we understand, finally, it seemed the global temperature had cooled, Rushdie had moved to a new city, New York, and wanting to be a part of it, instead of simply observing it, he began to show up in high profile places for the express purpose of having the insatiable New York gossip columnists and paparazzi link him with the literati, sports stars, and Hollywood celebrities of Manhattan.

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We return to the hospital. Still in Erie, Pennsylvania, and today the medical team is dealing with "the eye," as it has taken on its own identity. Rushdie asks as the doctor approached him with a needle, where is the anesthesia? After, he explains having one’s eyelid sewn shut is probably the most painful experience he endured and it should be avoided at all costs.

Throughout the documentary, Rushdie counters the challenges of his recovery with humor, and still, we understand for every minute of laughter, he fights hours, days of pain.

Rushdie, to many is this looming evil figure, writing provocative and provoking words for the single purpose of denigrating a religion, is none of those things. He is a writer who wrote what he knew, what was familiar to him, what was ingrained in him from youth.

As much of his notoriety and injury has been based on religion, he explains, religion and people who use the name of God (or Allah or Buddha or any other deity), as an excuse "offers those who commit devastating acts a moral validation for immoral acts."

Rushdie was transferred to NYU Langone, where he would spend two more weeks, and again, "the eye," the nagging, persisting, reminder of the day, became the subject. And as one option included doing nothing, Rushdie decided it was the best option.

At the documentary finishes, we see the attack, beginning to end, in multiple sequences, the assailant, Rushdie alone fighting him, the shocked audience members hurdling the stage, as the attacker failing, stabbing, slashing, courageous men tackling and subduing the animal, until he is arrested. Medics rush to the stage, Rushdie covered in blood, still conscious, aware, and fighting.

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Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie is a must see documentary.

Gripping, riveting, the documentary is engrossing as it travels through the life of one writer, a privileged boy from Bombay, India, who made a life through the written word, made decisions, some good, some not so good, and still, after the years, after the moment, after 401 days, he is still as he explains, a writer and devoted to the imagination, and the words on the page.

The documentary explores broader themes alongside Rushdie’s own candid reflections on survival, creativity, love, and finding a way forward after an act of violence that fundamentally changed his life.

Compelling, Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie is in theaters now. It is a must see.

Directed by: Alex Gibney.

Language: English.

Runtime: 108 minutes.

Produced by: Alex Gibney, Erin Edeiken, Sruthi Pinnamaneni.

Writer: Salman Rushdie,  based on the memoir Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder.

Featuring: Salman Rushdie, Rachel Eliza Griffiths

Executive Produced by: Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Wendy Schmidt, Richard Perello.

Edited by: Andy Grieve, A.C.E.

Cinematography by: Rachel Eliza Griffiths.

Music by: Will Bates.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation’s top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Under the banner of her production company, HL Productions, LLC, Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.