Voices of Iraq (2004)

Alright so here's the thing about Voice of Iraq: it's heart is in the right place. The whole idea of the film isn't a totally revolutionary one, but it's one that doesn't rear it's progressive head in U.S. filmmaking much these days, so it still counts as refreshing. To give the cameras and the power to the people, and create a filmmaking force that documents its own story is something that was revolutionized, utilized, and perfected in Canada in the 70s as a part of the Challenge For Change program. Under dedicated hands in the right circumstances, it works, but without the logisitcal knowledge to match the go-get-em attitude, it can fall flat on its face, and Voices of Iraq is a clear example of that. See, it's not that the story isn't there. The people of Iraq have countless tales to tell to America, the rest of the world, and most importantly, each other, and the medium of film is great way to tell those stories. There's little that can me more empowering than a bit of film education and a camera, especially when a person hasn't had either of those things. But what do you do with that? The entire base of the Voices of Iraq plan seems to be missing in that the filmmakers invested little past the whole "lets give people" cameras thing. It's almost as if they were looking for cheap labor to shoot their movie for them so they could throw it together at the end (which obviously wasn't the full intention, just sayin). They halfassed it. What did they expect the people of Iraq, the people of the audience, really, anyone to gain from this feature? There's not story to be told here except for the countless back and forth between those who back and oppose the war. Nothing is enlightened, no cultural boundaries are really smashed, and probably most dissapointing of all, an organizing means that could've been used to unite different people of Iraq together in a single cause was completely overlooked in the pursuit of some sort of film vision that became completely invisible on screen. There's no outcome in the film, and there's no outcome outside of the film. The people of Iraq who are credited with the directing and shooting of Voices of Iraq were given a means with no end, and because of that, there's little film to credit them with. Sorry everybody, the Canadians probably could've done better.