Meeting Resistance
Two journalists in Baghdad in 2003 and 2004 started to notice some trends in the Iraqi response to American troop presence, trends they thought were not being fully explored by their press colleagues. Steve Connors and Molly Bingham proceeded to obtain unheard of access to private footage and on-the-ground action. They wove that footage into an unending loop of interviews with people who are actually part of the resistance/insurgency. They speak to individuals identified only as the Teacher, Warrior, Traveler, Local, Professor, Imam, Republican Guardsman, Lieutenant, Syrian, Fugitive, and Wife. Their anonymity is creatively managed through off-centering their faces and depth-of-field focus tricks in situ, rather than a silhouette or blurred out talking head. Through their words we hear what jihad is meant to mean and why it’s called for and whom the Iraqi people really oppose. It’s incredible material.
My rating is Rental, however, due to the overall flow of the film. We have perpetual talking (direct interviewee with no eyes or lips to follow, or voice over) in Arabic, with ts alien rhythms and cadences, coupled with footage that infrequently ties to what is being spoken at that moment (like a documentary might say “1000 people lost their jobs” and show a factory closed sign). It is a lulling effect, overwhelming us with two stimuli but drawing no parallels and showing no emotive faces to spark the mind. So there is little through-line, so much as a list of fascinating content and images you won’t get on PBS, never mind Fox News.
There are some genuinely shocking moments (some of the obtained footage is especially intense) and some sad shaking of the head revelations. For example, twenty percent of some families’ incomes are donated to fund the rebellion against the unwanted U.S. troops. This is not politics or spin, this is an insurgent telling the camera what is expected of patriots in his world. Imagine donating a fifth of your income and all your sons to wiping out an enemy who attacked you first? Their methods are defensive and offensive (in a strategic, not aesthetic) sense, and their passion is undeniable.
The cultural misunderstandings are still quite vivid - they overestimate our comprehension (as a nation at large) of their ethnic divides, or our understanding of their position toward Islam. Their jihad is to oust Americans from their country. This footage is three plus years old and one can only imagine how they feel now. The filmmakers get very blunt opinions about Saddam Hussein and America and the glories of martyrdom. It begins roughly with our bombing of the Abu Harifeh mosque and ends shortly after the 2004 Blackwater killings. It offers no judgment, nor does it proffer a solution, but this glimpse behind the veil is an achievement and an education.
MPAA Rating Not Rated: R for strong war violence and images
Release date 10/19/07 limited
Time in minutes 84
Director Steve Connors & Molly Bingham
Studio Nine Lives Documentary Productions
