- Living in exile in France for the past 25 years, Abbas Fahdel last year made Retour à Babylone, the occasion to return home, be reunited with his childhood friends and explore a reality that was now alien to him. In this film, Fahdel's camera shows us Iraqis in another light and the hopes and fears of these men and women who escaped the nightmare of a dictatorship only to be mired in chaos. He is better equipped than anyone for this task. He is both an "outside" angle of vision and a brotherly view. An Iraqi among Iarqis, he embodies a reference point in the turmoil. His presence and commitment during the past year, his receptivity during those months when everyone was preparing for war explains why his camera is never indiscreet or prying.—Anonymous
- February 2003. Daily life in Baghdad, in a home like many others, that of the director's brother. The preparations waiting for the outbreak of war, the comments in front of the images on TV, stocking up on food, the difficulty of the children to go to school... When the war breaks, the director returns to France and looses all contact with his family. Two months later, he returns to Iraq and discovers a country shaken by violence, the nightmare of dictatorship replaced by chaos, but a country where, nonetheless, everything remains possible: the best or the worse. "I came to film death, but life got the upper hand", said the director in conclusion
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