My Country, My Country (2 Jun. 2006)

The director follows a Sunni Arab doctor as he prepares to run for the early 2005 elections in Iraq.

Director:

Laura Poitras

Stars:

Dr. Riyadh, Aaron Castle, Scott Farren-Price

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Dr. Riyadh	...	Himself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aaron Castle	...	Himself
Scott Farren-Price	...	Himself
Renato Gonclaves	...	Himself
Andre Remmers	...	Himself
Edward Robertson	...	Himself
Kristopher Scarcliff	...	Himself
Peter Towndrow	...	Himself
Carlos Valenzuela	...	Himself
Edward Wong	...	Himself

Storyline

Six months in Iraq, culminating in the national election on January 30, 2005. We watch logistic preparations for the election, with UN, US, Australian, and local personnel unsure if the election will be held as scheduled, bracing for violence and for world attention. We also cut back and forth to Dr. Riyadh, a Sunni physician who practices at the Adhamiya Free Clinic and prays at the Abu Hanifa Mosque. He's an Iraqi Islamic Party candidate for the Baghdad Provincial Council; he visits Abu Ghraib prison and speaks out. We meet his wife and daughters: the family is cheerful, ironic, and droll. Will his party participate in the elections? Will he vote? Is his family safe?

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Plot Keywords:

election | iraq | sunni | prison | abu ghraib | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site PBS [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

Kurdish English Arabic

Release Date:

2 June 2006 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Iraq

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$3,546 (USA) (4 August 2006)

Gross:

$33,620 (USA) (17 November 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Independent Television Service (ITVS), Praxis Film Works

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007)

User Reviews

insight into domestic life and anxieties

It is a moving documentary. The director was given full access by US military, and being a woman, was able to film inside the living room of an Iraqi family with only women present.

The different clips are well edited, and the documentary has a nice balance and feel to it.

There is a (now hilarious) scene in a classroom-setting in which a US-based contractor is teaching to several adult men what democracy is.

The US military is shown as courteous and understanding, so don't mistake this documentary as an anti-occupation rant. It is more about the anxieties of a middle-class family, opposed to violence ("live and let live"), and the aspirations of an every-day family to make their world a better world.