Homeland (Iraq Year Zero) (2015)

Chronicles of everyday life in Iraq before and after the U.S. invasion.

Director:

Abbas Fahdel

Writer:

Abbas Fahdel

12 wins & 3 nominations.

Storyline

Part I: BEFORE THE FALL (duration: 2h40m) : For several months, the director filmed a group of Iraqis, mostly members of his family, in their expectation of the war. This first part of the film ends with the start of U.S. strikes on Baghdad. Part II: AFTER THE BATTLE (duration: 2h54m) : Americans invades Iraq and the film shows the consequences of this invasion on the daily life of the characters. The film ends with the violent death of one of the main characters: the nephew of the filmmaker, twelve years old boy Haidar.

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Plot Keywords:

watching tv | iraq | baghdad | iraq war | u.s. invasion of iraq | 

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Taglines:

Everyday life in Iraq before and after the U.S. invasion

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Iraq France

Language:

Arabic

Release Date:

6 October 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Homeland (Irak année zéro)

Filming Locations:

Iraq

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stalker Production (

Technical Specs

Runtime:

334 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16 : 9

User Reviews

Very very difficult to comment on...

Seen at the Viennale 2016: The filmmaker Abbas Fahdel did a great job in doing this documentary about the story of his family during the years that led to the fall of the Hussein regime. The movie is not one minute too long. It is easy to watch - like a long story of gossips. And this is also my main problem with this movie. So many stories are told to the man behind the camera. Very often stories about how another person was killed, robbed or otherwise treated badly. Can I believe these people shown? I am sure, some of them exaggerated, because in my experience everybody exaggerates when he tells a story to another person. What also remains as feeling is that every bad situation that hits an Iraqi is provoked by an enemy. There was not one Iraqi who put some blame on himself that they endured a dictatorship, that they got robbed (by their own people), that the streets are unsafe etc. All the time others have done something terrible wrong. Another problem of this documentary is that it seems that Abbas Fahdel seems to be part of an intellectual family. And so we see mostly the world through their eyes. We do not see the separation between possessors and non-possessors. Fahdel gives the impression that there is no tension between the middle class and the poor. The months before the beginning of war everybody was kind of excited - like expecting the beginning of a soccer world championship. The whole documentary is too biased. No wonder, because it is the story of one family. But if you have the chance to see this documentary - with all its shortcomings - go and see it!!!