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, Rovi
What My Country, My Country does best is show us that while both the Americans and the Iraqis care about the country's future, their cultural backgrounds and world views inevitably make them seem alien to each other.
Though the events have a rambling overfamiliarity, there's a real story between the lines: the resentment over the U.S. occupation on the part of non-insurgent Iraqis.
Part of the problem with the film, though, is that some of the scenes with the doctor and his family and the doctor and his patients have a staged feel to them -- as if, they were also putting on a "show."
Poitras creates a vivid portrait of Iraqi civilians siding with neither the U.S. occupation nor the insurgents but just looking for the killing to end.
In 90 captivating minutes, Laura Poitras' extraordinary documentary My Country, My Country gives you a greater understanding of the situation in Iraq than you'd get from 100 hours of Fox News or CNN.
... day-to-day life under occupation where citizens still live without power... and extremist rebels wage a campaign of intimidation against Iraqis and Americans alike.
The camera should never leave the four walls of the Riyad family home. Beyond that story, there is a dullness to the pacing and the wider tale of the Iraqi elections.
Despite some flaws--docu doesn't illustrate the political backdrop or explains where the Sunis fit vis-a-vis the Kurds, Shia, Arbas--Poitras' feature is essential in venturing into new grounds that no journalists or directors have previously explored
The film delivers powerful images of a country mired in chaos, where explosions, gunfire, power outages and unrest rule the day, leading to a national despondency that understandably fails to rise above the endemic suffering and daily death.
I enjoyed how the filmmaker truly just observed and didn't really inject any opinion or politics into this. It's depressing to watch, however, because we were lied into going there, but once we got there (and continue to be) we really have done nothing to improve these people's lives and some sham elections don't
count.
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