Dir: James Longley
The documentary some believe should have won the Oscar instead of Al Gore's staid lecture on climate change. Oregon-born Longley spent two years living and filming in Iraq to assemble this portrait of a crumbling nation. The first section focusses on an orphaned Sunni boy in Baghdad, the second on the Shia in the south, and the final segment, Kurdish Spring, takes place in the north. Beside the physical wreckage of war we see the ruined lives and the struggle for supremacy among competing groups. "The future of Iraq will be in three pieces," says a Kurdish farmer, and watching this it's hard to disagree. Splitting the documentary into three to reflect the country's sectarian divide gives it a clear structure, but the middle section is stronger and should have been given more time. Longley's footage of Sadr's enforcement squads is astonishing. A terrifying look at the reality behind the two-minute news items.
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Mar 17-22.
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