The Iraq war isn’t in the history books yet, but it feels as if we’ve seen every shot fired, thanks to a flood of documentaries on screens both small and large.
Along comes “My Country, My Country,” and suddenly we see the battlefield from a fresh vantage point. The film is exhilarating and frightening, a cautionary tale about our ignorance of Arab culture and at the same time a testament to the powerful attractive pull of democracy.
Kudos to director Laura Poitras not only for getting close enough to the Iraqis to capture their daily lives, but for doing so in some of the country’s most dangerous locales.
“My Country” follows the awkward journey of a Sunni doctor named Riyadh and his decision to run for office in the 2005 Iraqi elections. The good doctor isn’t a natural politician. He’s stoic to a fault, a man who won’t let emotion show on his face no matter the situation.
Times are dire for him and his family, let alone their neighbors in war-torn Baghdad.
He has little affection for the American-led occupation — but the more blood spills, the more he reconsiders his resistance to the upcoming elections.
The doctor isn’t the only one gearing up for the vote. Private security firms are scrambling to make sure the elections are as safe as possible. U.S. officials are working with the public to lay the groundwork in a country where fair voting is an alien concept. Meanwhile, more bodies pile up, more insurgent strikes rip through the country, and the Iraqis are left to wonder why they should bother voting if security can’t be maintained.
Even the Kurds, the most pro-American group in Iraq, see the elections as a nightmare waiting to happen.
We all know the outcome, but with the stakes so high and the personalities so human, it’s hard not to get wrapped up in the people’s excitement while sensing their dread.
A few early scenes capture moments that beg for more explanation, as when Abu Ghraib prisoners plead with Riyadh for help as if they are all mere innocents who happened to get thrown into the clink.
What’s far more chilling is how Iraqis spin every scrap of news into anti-American rants. When a battalion of Iraqi and American soldiers advances on an insurgent group, the locals pin the resulting civilian casualties on guns fired by Americans, not their countrymen. We need a separate documentary on this kind of mass delusion, but here it’s simply part of a maddening tapestry that is modern Iraq.
Miss Poitras’ camera catches an overwhelming amount of small, stunning moments. In one minor sequence, a member of the doctor’s family tries to swat a stubborn fly in their home while outside gunfire echoes through the air.
Later, the family members discuss what the insurgents might think of their ink-stained fingers, their banter transforming from fear to black humor within seconds.
Other sequences, including an arms purchase by foreign private security contractors, add little to the big picture.
“My Country, My Country” offers perhaps the most complete cinematic portrait yet of the average Iraqi — angry, frightened and confused but deep down desperate for hope.
***1/2
TITLE: “My Country, My Country”
RATING: NR (Violence, mature themes and bloody imagery)
CREDITS: Directed by Laura Poitras. In Arabic, English and Kurdish with English subtitles
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes
WEB SITE: www.mycountrymycountry.com
MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS
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