It always amazes me to see people who have endured great oppression and pain smiling so freely. The film makes it pretty clear that Iraqis have an indomitable spirit. I was struck by the almost unanimous level of support for America and "democracy" presented in the film - especially since an Iraqi poll released yesterday reported that in some areas 65 percent support attacks on US military, and less than one percent think the occupation is improving security. Even if a cynical view held that the film's American editors introduced their spin, the pure joy expressed by the children and twenty-somethings being filmed and filming was clearly genuine.
Included in the film are archival clips - shocking examples of Sadaam's torturers at work. A few seconds of these is almost enough to turn any skeptic into a True Believer Bushite.
One grumble: Is there a special motion picture school out there that trains sadists to create captions for foreign language films shown in the US? Those in "Voices of Iraq" have to be the absolute most painful to endure - they are tiny, often projected with little contrast with the background and flashed on and off so fast that one would have to be a champeen speed reader to follow wot the h they said.
2nd grumble: Next time they do another film like this, hopefully they will hand out tripods along with the cameras. With the camera movement almost constant and the bleepin captions blinking on and off, it is a challenge to concentrate - but seeing the people up front and close and speaking their minds, made it well worth the minor irritation. Check it out.
Included in the film are archival clips - shocking examples of Sadaam's torturers at work. A few seconds of these is almost enough to turn any skeptic into a True Believer Bushite.
One grumble: Is there a special motion picture school out there that trains sadists to create captions for foreign language films shown in the US? Those in "Voices of Iraq" have to be the absolute most painful to endure - they are tiny, often projected with little contrast with the background and flashed on and off so fast that one would have to be a champeen speed reader to follow wot the h they said.
2nd grumble: Next time they do another film like this, hopefully they will hand out tripods along with the cameras. With the camera movement almost constant and the bleepin captions blinking on and off, it is a challenge to concentrate - but seeing the people up front and close and speaking their minds, made it well worth the minor irritation. Check it out.