******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Over the years I have seen many documentaries about Third World countries that were invaded by the American military or its proxies such as the Nicaraguan contras but none comes close to achieving the artistic and political power of Abbas Fahdel’s “Homeland (Iraq Year Zero)” that is distinguished by the insights of a brilliant director born in Babylon, Iraq. It consists of two parts, the first filmed in his country on the eve of the American invasion and the second in the first few months after it had occurred. Together they add up to 334 minutes and I can only say that I hungered to watch parts 3 and 4 if they existed. Unlike any other films in this genre, this is the very first—at least that I am familiar with—that is made by someone who is a native of the land suffering from invasion and occupation.
By analogy, think of what might have been possible if a Vietnamese director had access to relatively inexpensive digital cameras in 1965 and interviewed the peasants who had been forced into strategic hamlets as well as the intellectuals in Saigon who could speak for the country’s nationalist yearnings. But also imagine that the director had included not just the suffering of his countrymen but also their culture, their humor and the values that had sustained them for millennia. Fahdel’s friends and relatives, who had been victimized both by Saddam and by the American occupation, are the voice of the Iraqis we have never heard. They are cultured, wise and sardonically witty about the conditions that have been forced on them. Among them is the star of the movie, the director’s 12-year-old nephew Haidar who is wise beyond his years and appealing enough to be featured in a Kiarostami film.
full: https://louisproyect.org/2016/10/07/films-from-iraq-syria-and-iran/ _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
