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Riyadh al-Adhadh,
Riyadh al-Adhadh,
Peter Towndrow,
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:
Laura Poitras,
Laura Poitras
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: Not Rated
: Zeitgeist Films
: Documentary, Political & Social Issues, Religion, War, Iraq
: 90 min.
: English, Arabic
: English
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Americans are offered the unique opportunity to experience the U.S. occupation of Iraq from an insider's perspective in this documentary detailing the efforts of a devoted father and Sunni Muslim political candidate to better his country during the 2005 elections. As the U.S. government attempts to bring democracy to Iraq, Baghdad native Dr. Riyadh is faced with making the difficult decision of supporting the popular boycott of the elections, or fighting for a democracy that seems ever more unlikely with each passing day. With intimate footage of Dr. Riyadh's interactions with the public and candid interviews featuring the opinions of every-day Iraqis, director Laura Poitras' timely film offers an unbiased look at the unpredictable will of an occupied population. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
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| Whose Country?
by talltale
March 21, 2007 - 3:11 PM PDT
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3 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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More is what you're likely to want from Laura Poitras' Academy Award-nominated documentary MY COUNTRY MY COUNTRY, which tracks the pre-January '05 elections in Iraq, as the Bush administration pushes for immediate elections but the Iraqi people want--isn't this shocking?!--to wait until such time as they can actually decide and act for themselves. Much of the movie is seen thru the eyes and voice of Dr. Riyadh, a Sunni man who appears extremely thoughtful, intelligent, and hopeful and despairing in about equal proportions. There is even a bit of humor (the doctor's wife telling him whom she plans to vote for is classic). We see the doctor's family, friends and patients, as well as everyone from the U.N. and U.S. military to a reporter from The New York Times. Dr. Riyadh counsels his patients (and sometimes gifts them with money), visits Abu Ghraib, runs for office; the Sunnis boycott the elections, a friend's son is kidnapped, the doctor's family argues and waits.
More concrete and less impressionistic than Andrew Berends' "The Blood of My Brother," Poitras' movie is similar to Berends' in that it tells/shows us some things but not nearly enough of them nor in any kind of deep or rounded fashion. But how could any American documentarian hope to capture the big picture in Iraq, let alone the small or middle one. Still, the attempt itself is valiant and necessary, for the closer Americans can come to understanding the havoc they have wreaked upon a poor, unarmed (at the time) people who had done us little or no harm, the sooner we can begin our penance |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.58)
12 Votes
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