My Country, My Country

Laura Poitras' admirably direct, even-tempered documentary My Country, My Country, which recently aired on PBS's acclaimed P.O.V. series, looks at the run-up to the election of Iraq's first National Assembly in January 2005. The central figure here is Dr. Riyadh, a professorial, bespectacled physician and family man who runs a free clinic in Baghdad and is the candidate for a minority Sunni party. Riyadh is clearly a man of reason and compassion, encouraging his co-religionists not to boycott the election while also imploring his vacillating wife and children to vote. But the unhappy circumstances of the occupation threaten even his sense of hopefulness: Riyadh's visit to prisoners long incarcerated at Abu Ghraib and his protests to American officers over the jailing of a young boy eventually weaken his resolve, and on election day he also has to deal with what's become a familiar tragedy—the kidnapping and attempted ransom of a friend's son. Though the film centers on Riyadh, it also interviews American soldiers struggling to keep order in the streets and international workers preparing for the election (presenting them in a positive light) and captures Iraqi suspicion and anger toward those whom they look upon as foreign oppressors. In fact, the sounds of explosions in the distance that punctuate My Country, My Country and the sense of near-despair serve to poignantly underscore both the immense toll that the U.S. invasion has had on Iraq and the difficulties of retrieving some degree of order from the chaos. Recommended. Aud: C, P. [Note: DVD extras include 13 minutes of additional footage from the “Abu Ghraib Inspection,” and trailers. Bottom line: a small but relevant extras package for a powerful Oscar-nominated doc.] (F. Swietek)