Iraq in Fragments is James Longley's "fly on the wall" documentary looking at the in transition Iraqi society broken into three parts and three points of view. 11 year old orphan Mohammed in working class Baghdad; fanatical Shias led to attacks on the mainly Christian liquor sellers by an Islamic cleric; and a Kurdish point of view around Arbil.
Aptly titled, the documentary has no familiar cohesive structure that audiences are used to seeing. We're in the midst of a great uprising of the documentary and many of the "rules" of genre are being thrown out the window. This has been, for the most part successful. But for Iraq In Fragments the filmmaker's goal may have been as simple as "Let's go to Iraq, and then just roll tape". Unfortunately this means leads to the same end; a scramble of confused parts that while sometimes breathtaking and always eye opening are simply detrimentally flawed when attempting to convey a clear picture of the situation in Iraq.
The big redeeming quality here is the unique and jaw-dropping photography of the state of Iraq which fully immerses it's audience at the street level. Helicopters above, soldiers beside. Sadly, with the exception of a few short sequences, the subtitles draw your eye from the image to the bottom of the frame and keep you worried you're missing something important.
The overall feeling that does come across is that to the Iraqi -no matter Shiite, Sunni, or Kurd- the opinion of the occupation is summed in a quote from the film; "They took away one Saddam and brought us one hundred".
Iraq In Fragments is now playing at the Uptown Stage & Screen.
C Matt Watterworth http://www.theweal.com
Aptly titled, the documentary has no familiar cohesive structure that audiences are used to seeing. We're in the midst of a great uprising of the documentary and many of the "rules" of genre are being thrown out the window. This has been, for the most part successful. But for Iraq In Fragments the filmmaker's goal may have been as simple as "Let's go to Iraq, and then just roll tape". Unfortunately this means leads to the same end; a scramble of confused parts that while sometimes breathtaking and always eye opening are simply detrimentally flawed when attempting to convey a clear picture of the situation in Iraq.
The big redeeming quality here is the unique and jaw-dropping photography of the state of Iraq which fully immerses it's audience at the street level. Helicopters above, soldiers beside. Sadly, with the exception of a few short sequences, the subtitles draw your eye from the image to the bottom of the frame and keep you worried you're missing something important.
The overall feeling that does come across is that to the Iraqi -no matter Shiite, Sunni, or Kurd- the opinion of the occupation is summed in a quote from the film; "They took away one Saddam and brought us one hundred".
Iraq In Fragments is now playing at the Uptown Stage & Screen.
C Matt Watterworth http://www.theweal.com