Operation Filmmaker

Dramatist Clare Boothe Luce famously said, “no good deed goes unpunished,” which is certainly the case in Nina Davenport's ruefully hilarious documentary Operation Filmmaker. Shortly after the fall of Baghdad in 2003, a bright, articulate student named Muthana Mohmed was interviewed in the rubble of the city's film school, lamenting to an MTV reporter that American bombs have laid waste to his dream of becoming a filmmaker. Actor Liev Schreiber, then in the process of embarking on his first directorial effort, Everything Is Illuminated, sees Muthana and decides to offer the crestfallen Iraqi an entry-level job on the movie. On location, however, Muthana fails to live up to expectations—both his and the crew's—and the charitable cross-cultural endeavor turns ugly (even director Davenport becomes entangled in Muthana's life when he presses her for help when his visa nears expiration). Muthana's open-minded benefactors gradually become disenchanted with the recipient of their largess, as the ungrateful Iraqi turns into a first-rate slacker and b.s. artist. Some will be saddened by this spectacle, while the more cynical will delight in the chaos of this scabrously funny film. Recommended. (E. Hulse)