Review – My Country, My Country

Somewhere in here there’s a good point about democracy, interventionism and the newly-“free” nation of Iraq. The mere act of following one of the Sunni candidates for office around in the months prior to the country’s first open election provides at least some solid human interest. Unfortunately, this is an ineptly-assembled mess. It’s often hard to tell exactly when what we’re seeing is taking place. The day of the election? Months earlier? Unless there’s recently been an overlay announcing the date, it’s difficult to keep the action in proper context. The politics are also odd. As any left-leaning person in Kansas can tell you, it isn’t much fun to feel constantly marginalized, denied a meaningful voice in the government. So the guy’s got my sympathy, even when he despairs (which is frequent). However, in spots (such as the extended, bloody, and frankly somewhat pointless chicken throat-cutting) the director also seems to be actively working to make the protagonist unsympathetic. Not that the non-Iraqis fare much better. The Americans come across as insensitive rubes, and the creepy Australian mercenaries come across as, well, creepy. From an Oscar-nominated documentary I expected something a bit more profound about Iraq than “Jeez, what a mess.” See if desperate