Saturday, January 13, 2007

MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY

MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY is a documentary about the first democratic elections in Iraq, following one local Sunni doctor who decides to run for local office. It's an extremely frustrating film to watch, as we know he can't possibly win, and in fact it's possible that he will be the victim of violence as a result of the elections.

It's not the best made documentary. It assumes the audience knows a lot about the political situation in Iraq. To explain things to an average audience, it would have needed a lot of expository voice-over and maps, chart and graphs; instead, the director uses a cinema-verité style (which I normally like) which allows you to see the doctor's home life as a reality. I still feel that the film only scratches the surface of all of the related issues.

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