My Country, My Country

2006

English

Directed by: Laura Poitras

(90 mins) Working alone in Iraq over eight months, American filmmaker Laura Poitras follows Iraqi physician Dr. Riyadh—father of six and Sunni political candidate—for an unforgettable journey into the heart of war-ravaged Iraq in the months leading up to the January 2005 elections. An outspoken critic of the occupation, Dr. Riyadh is equally passionate about building democracy in Iraq. Yet all around him, he sees only chaos, as his waiting room fills each day with patients suffering the physical and mental effects of ever-increasing violence. Dramatically interwoven into his personal journey is the landscape of U.S. military occupation, Australian private security contractors, and the U.N. officials who orchestrated the elections. Luminously photographed and emotionally complex, MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY captures the downward spiral of one man caught in the tragic contradictions of the U.S. occupation of Iraq and its project to spread democracy in the Middle East.

In English, Arabic, and Kurdish with English subtitles.