Product Description

In July 2003, Sinan Antoon, an exiled Iraqi writer and poet, returned to his native Baghdad to see what became of his city after decades of wars, sanctions, oppression and occupation. Antoon takes us along on his quest to explore what Iraqis feel and think about the post-war situation and the complex relationship between the US and Iraq. ABOUT BAGHDAD is a journey into the hearts and minds of Iraqis encountered in Baghdad.

OFFICIAL SELECTION
- Montreal World Film Festival
- Cinemayaat: Arab Film Festival, San Francisco - Arabian Sights Film Festival, Washington, DC
- Calgary International Film Festival

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #82476 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-02-01
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full length, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: Arabic, English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Professor Ella Habiba Shahat, NYU
"…a stunning achievement, at once soulful and analytical, a veritable ode to Iraq."

Dana Stevens, New York Times, Wednesday, January 12, 2005
"ABOUT BAGHDAD manages to present a true diversity of opinion."

San Francisco Bay Guardian
"...an altogether impressive and wide-ranging survey."

Customer Reviews

An excellent and balanced overview of Iraqi popular opinion
This is an excellent documentary which samples opinions from many Iraqis of different social, economic, and educational levels regarding the American occupation and the ousting of Saddam Hussein. If you want to hear Iraqis who welcome the US soldiers as saviors, as well as those who believe they're occupying agressors who are only after oil, that's all here-- as well as opinions of every shade in between.

More significantly, seeing the different people in their own environment, speaking their own language and interacting both with the interviewers and with one another, gives an excellent and often-absent context for these opinions. At the same time, seeing all the opinions together and in context, makes it clear to the viewer not only that there is more complexity of opinion than the normal sound-bites allow for, but also helps the viewer to understand how even within one country, different people with different backgrounds and interests, can have radically divergent opinions on this subject.

Incidentally, the fact that the interviewees are translated by means of subtitles, rather than dubbing, makes this an excellent resource for students of Arabic and Iraqi. Most of the interviewees speak in Iraqi dialect, although the more educated ones speak in standard Arabic or English. (Interestly enough, the more education Iraqis who speak in English and foojha tend to be much more anti-American than the more common Iraqis, which was a surprise to me, personally.)

All in all, an excellent documentary.

A multi-hued perspective on pre and post occupied Iraq
Sinan Antoon is an Iraqi writer and poet who was forced to flee the country in 1991. Upon his return, he was determined to explore the continuing turbulent climate of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. In July of 2003, shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, he compiled many colorful, meaningful, and fascinating interviews from citizens in all walks of life in Iraq. These are their voices yearning to be heard sending out messages that the world needs to hear.

Before any intervention by the United States, there is an overwhelming consensus here about Saddam Hussein and his Ba'th party being the major factors that left Iraq in tatters and caused endless misery to citizens everywhere. Many Iraqis describe the horrors of Abu Ghraib prison, the oppressive elements of a dictatorship government they endured, and their current thoughts of America's stance toward Iraq.

Looking at both sides of the equation, many Iraqi citizens share their mixed feelings about the occupation in Iraq and for good reasons. While a large number of the interviewees acknowledge worthwhile efforts of America in Iraq, an equal number can attest to a lackluster response from the United States in fulfilling needs and keeping promises to improve current conditions. This is a fair argument in my opinion because the state of affairs at present are far from ideal in any case no matter how you interpret the situation.

Faced with hardships such as high unemployment, lack of critical city infrastructure, and widespread criminal activity to name just a few, the overwhelming concerns of the Iraqi populace are certainly justified. Confronting an uncertain future on many levels, several citizens reveal their hopes, ideas, and desires to rebuild shattered lives and to restore Iraq to a vibrant and prosperous country once again.

`About Baghdad' is a great documentary that I found to be quite comprehensive in detail. The mixture of different but balanced opinions and viewpoints here is a refreshing break from mainstream media's common tendency to report in a non-objective fashion in many cases. All in all this is a fine program and I recommend it to everyone.

Very interesting
I used this in my Arabic class, and it seems as though my students were interested. this is a documentary made up mostly of many clips of Iraqis apparently answering questions or giving opinions. There is a pretty good variety between average people from the street to more specific interviews such as professors, poets, victims of well-known torture events and so forth. The clips were all made very soon after the operation started, so now, a number of years later, we have perhaps a different perspective. Other reviews have pointed out the many different opinions and impressions Iraqis display in this video. What's key for me is that what eventually comes out is fatigue from many years of hardship, war, and stress. A common theme is that Iraqis want stability and are concerned, if not outright upset about chaos and a lack of progress, even at these early stages. As history begins to look at the action in Iraq, I think the judgement will be that the US failed to understand what it would take to provide the kind of stability needed for progress. Getting rid of Saddam was great, but Iraqis were not as willing or able to step up and create viable institutions and they were not consistently provided by the US forces either. This left a lot of people floundering and succeptible to crime and a lack of opportunities and services. I am also a Spanish teacher, and I see themes in this documentary that are common in many Spanish societies that also saw the overthrow of dictators. Most of the population is glad the dictator is gone, and many are willing to speak out about atrocities, but the circumstances that replaced the dictator are often problematic also. It's not that Iraqis would want to go back to Saddam, but they expected more once he was gone.