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March 15, 2005

Voices of Iraq

I have to say this is one of the most amazing documentaries I have seen in years. The concept is brilliantly simple: 150 Iraqis (though it is not clear how they are selected) are given portable video cameras and asked to document their lives and pass the cameras around. Conspicuously absent are blowhard media pundits and whiny intellectuals who never miss an opportunity to speak on behalf of Iraqis.

The result is indescribably moving and enlightening. As I watch, I am overwhelmed with both sadness and elation as the constant barrage of images and descriptions of life under Sadaam as well as the portrayal of the intoxicating effects of freedom and dignity after so many years of miserable oppression. As one man jovially passing by the film crew exclaims, “It is better now than under Sadaam, even if we starve!". This sentiment is generally echoed by most of the subjects of the film, which seems to directly contradict the impression one gets from the mainstream media’s coverage of the Iraq war as well as the anti-American portrayal of the war among the intellectual establishment in the west. While it is obvious that a certain slant might be possible through the editing of over 450 hours of video that led to the final documentary, the film hardly comes off as heavy-handed. In one scene a woman is seen agonizing over the death of her brother and most of his family (they are accidentally shot for failing to stop at security check point) as the family’s orphaned daughter plays nearby, blissfully unaware of the tragedy. The woman behind the camera tries to console her by saying sorry. “They were ’sorry’ too” she wails.

All in all, this movie shows an Iraqi populus that is much more well informed, more aware of the complexities of war and democracy, and vastly more appreciative of even the possibility of freedom than the mainstream media gives them credit for. As one citizen intones when asked about a new Iraqi gov’t, “We cannot leave even the smallest opportunity for dictatorship to return". Many subjects are all too eager to point out that the “insurgents” trying to terrorize Iraqis into crawling back into their national dungeon are not righteous “freedom fighters” as Michael Moore has lauded them, but former Sadaam henchmen and terrorists sent from other Arab countries.

Perhaps the saddest thing is considering how in many ways the Iraqi dream of freedom may be dashed by the cynicism and moral relativism of those who claim that to “impose” on Iraq the American system of individual rights, separation of church and state, and free-market capitalism, would be tantamount to imperialism. In fact, the compromise of any of these guarantees in writing the Iraqi constitution will make freedom and stability precarious at best.

Voices of Iraq official documentary website

A NY Times review

and some pretty thoughtful user reviews at Netflix

Posted by exaltron at March 15, 2005 08:11 PM

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