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MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY Send This Review to a Friend
Laura Poitras’ documentary “My Country, My Country” takes us into Iraq at a critical time when elections were taking place and her film, although calm in its fly-on-the-wall approach, allows us to see what a mess the country is in and how the most well-meaning of people can be trapped in the morass.
She focuses on an interesting person, a Dr. Riyadh, who is a Sunni political candidate. and who must deal with his flow of patients. Against the American occupation, he still believes that it is important to have an election in which he and his party should participate. We see the idealism in him in the face of everything that would be reasons to abandon such faith.
What is the reality? The doctor’s family fears being murdered in the atmosphere that exists. Poitras surveys the scene, encompassing the violence, the chaos, and every-day players who include journalists and UN officials. What the camera captures adds up to its own comment.
Although the film doesn’t soar to dramatic heights, its diligent approach gives it reliability, and one can glean a much larger picture from Poitras’ specific focus. A Zeitgeist Films release.
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