A mesmerizing and deeply moving portrayal of the Iraq War as seen by Iraqis, Abbas Fahdel’s six-hour masterpiece is essential viewing for anyone hoping to understand the implications of the reckless US-led invasion.
In 1991, Iraq became a hapless party to the birth of televised warfare, as Western TV crews scrambled to get the best rooftop views of Patriot missiles raining down on Baghdad. The spectacle resumed, on a much larger scale, in 2003. Then came the big-budget movies. But somehow, 25 million Iraqis, a people unfortunate enough to have experienced both Saddam Hussein’s tyranny and the wrath of the Bush dynasty, were largely absent from the show.
Fahdel’s hugely rewarding documentary, which opened in French cinemas on Wednesday, is a reminder that one could watch a dozen of Hollywood’s obscene takes on the Iraq war and still have no clue as to what it meant to be at the receiving end of America’s war on terror. There is no “shock and awe” in his 334-minute epic, no American sniper picking off swarms of faceless insurgents – just ordinary Iraqis struggling to get along with their lives even as their world collapses.
trailer HOMELAND (IRAQ YEAR ZERO) a film by Abbas Fahdel from Stalker Production on Vimeo.