O.K. I not at all ashamed to admit it...I'm the moderate liberal white female the red states love to hate. I was against this war before it ever started. And this movie didn't really change my mind. It is the right wing answer to Fahrenheit 9/11. It's not fair and balanced, unless you're Fox TV. However, in spite of it's partisan leanings the documentary was really compelling. The people are fascinating. However, while watching you quickly realize you are being lead by the nose, especially when the happy activities of the citizens are juxtaposed with quotes from major news journalists about the failures going on in Iraq. The next tactic was to show a disproportionate amount of footage of the torture Saddam had wrought on his detractors. Alright already, the whole worlds knew Saddam was a sadistic megalomania (BTW the pope is Catholic) but it still doesn't make him responsible for the 9/11 attacks or the possessor of WMD.
Curiously there is very little footage of American soldiers and a most perplexing scene in which insurgents are shown acting up only as long as American TV reporters were filming them. What was that all about? Is it to suggest that the insurgents only play out their terror if America is watching?
These trivial complaints aside, Voices Of Iraq has it's moments and will endear you to the people of Iraq...the children especially. They are so like kids anywhere in the world. Hams in front of the camera and filled with dreams of a happy future. Still...I am left wanting to see some of the Anti-American footage on the cutting room floor. The film glossed over the shame of Abu Ghraib and the fact that the insurgents may become a serious threat to the occupation. My hope is that we didn't promise these people a new life and not be able to deliver. It may be overly simplistic of me, but if we are struggling at home to assure our own children a decent education, health care, and economic security...how the heck can we can do it for someone else? How do we pay for it? (The Shrub administration said the oil fields would foot the bill, remember?) But now it seems the American people are footing the bill...and it's a BIG one. And how do we train the Iraqis to secure their own towns when we don't have coalition enough to do the job...or oops I forgot Poland? How long will Americans be willing to sacrifice their own children if the situation becomes a hopeless cause? etc...etc? Anyway, the movie is worth a viewing. Just like Fahrenheit 9/11 the end got a little prolonged. Voices Of Iraq is not rated (something I don't understand) because for the extreme violence it should be rated X.
A little aside...about two weeks before the presidential election Netflix actually sent out an email to all their customers asking if you would like to put this movie at the top of your queue. They had exclusive rights to DVD distribution while it was playing only in selected cities. It was the first and only time (I'm a charter member) I remember Netflix recommending a film via email. Different.
"Some people say" us blue state mothers are living immoral hedonistic sexually deviant unloving family lives (heterosexual married with children)...but I pray every day (probably to the wrong God) that all our children (red states too) can survive this war without mortgaging their future. I also hope the people of Iraq were not sold a bill of goods just so the fundamental faithful can have a foothold in the Middle East.
Curiously there is very little footage of American soldiers and a most perplexing scene in which insurgents are shown acting up only as long as American TV reporters were filming them. What was that all about? Is it to suggest that the insurgents only play out their terror if America is watching?
These trivial complaints aside, Voices Of Iraq has it's moments and will endear you to the people of Iraq...the children especially. They are so like kids anywhere in the world. Hams in front of the camera and filled with dreams of a happy future. Still...I am left wanting to see some of the Anti-American footage on the cutting room floor. The film glossed over the shame of Abu Ghraib and the fact that the insurgents may become a serious threat to the occupation. My hope is that we didn't promise these people a new life and not be able to deliver. It may be overly simplistic of me, but if we are struggling at home to assure our own children a decent education, health care, and economic security...how the heck can we can do it for someone else? How do we pay for it? (The Shrub administration said the oil fields would foot the bill, remember?) But now it seems the American people are footing the bill...and it's a BIG one. And how do we train the Iraqis to secure their own towns when we don't have coalition enough to do the job...or oops I forgot Poland? How long will Americans be willing to sacrifice their own children if the situation becomes a hopeless cause? etc...etc? Anyway, the movie is worth a viewing. Just like Fahrenheit 9/11 the end got a little prolonged. Voices Of Iraq is not rated (something I don't understand) because for the extreme violence it should be rated X.
A little aside...about two weeks before the presidential election Netflix actually sent out an email to all their customers asking if you would like to put this movie at the top of your queue. They had exclusive rights to DVD distribution while it was playing only in selected cities. It was the first and only time (I'm a charter member) I remember Netflix recommending a film via email. Different.
"Some people say" us blue state mothers are living immoral hedonistic sexually deviant unloving family lives (heterosexual married with children)...but I pray every day (probably to the wrong God) that all our children (red states too) can survive this war without mortgaging their future. I also hope the people of Iraq were not sold a bill of goods just so the fundamental faithful can have a foothold in the Middle East.