Voices of the Middle East

During World War II, Frank Capra made a series of films called “Why We Fight” to rally Americans behind the war effort. Imagine a filmmaker doing that today. Actually, it’s impossible to imagine. Hollywood either prefers to stay away from the war on terrorism altogether (the film version of Tom Clancy’s “The Sum of All Fears” changed the villains from Islamist extremists to neo-Nazis) or to use it, even in its pre-September 11 form, as a morality play to warn against lost civil liberties (see “The Siege,” starring Denzel Washington).The film community – whose exquisite sensibilities are routinely outraged by the treatment of snail darters or swamps (aka wetlands) – couldn’t even work up much excitement about a Dutch filmmaker getting slaughtered by a Muslim fanatic. Where were the rallies and memorials to protest Theo van Gogh’s grisly murder on November 2, 2004?The lack of outrage should be no surprise since the most successful movie made about the war on terrorism might as well have been titled, “Why We Shouldn’t Fight.” I refer of course to “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which smarmily insinuated that the Bush administration poses a bigger threat to the world than Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein ever did.Some conservatives have produced their own documentaries (“Fahrenhype 9/11,” “Celsius 41.11: The Temperature at Which the Brain Begins to Die”) in reply to Michael Moore’s grotesque mendacity, but the best answer comes from two honest, nonpartisan films that depict different aspects of the current struggle. If you want to know why we fight, check out the drama “Osama” and the documentary “Voices of Iraq.”“Osama,” the first film made in liberated Afghanistan, opens with a scene of Taliban enforcers breaking up a demonstration by burqa-clad women upset about their inability to work. The action then shifts to a hospital that is being closed, throwing a female doctor out of work. Without a male wage-earner in the family – both her husband and brother have been killed – starvation looms. So she cuts her 12-year-old daughter’s hair and sends her out to work disguised as a boy called Osama.Director and writer Siddiq Barmak’s understated style convincingly conveys the horror of daily life under the Taliban. Marina Golbahari, a street urchin whose father was arrested by the Taliban in real life, invests the title role with an authenticity that no professional actress could match.Ultimately, Osama’s masquerade unravels and she faces a gruesome punishment from an Islamic court. The ending, which I won’t give away, is enough to make anyone shudder – and give thanks that American troops have toppled the Taliban. Yet I don’t recall a single Hollywood feminist expressing gratitude to the American military or their commander-in-chief for the liberation of Afghan women. No doubt Streisand, Sarandon & Co. were too busy inveighing against the horrors perpetrated by John Ashcroft.“Voices of Iraq” is one of the most gripping documentaries I have ever seen. It was created by distributing 150 digital camcorders to let ordinary Iraqis record their own lives and thoughts from April to September 2004. The results, which are presented without a narrative voiceover, are far more varied and interesting than the monotonous coverage of car bombs and clashes that dominates the news.Early on in the film, an American newspaper headline – “Fear of Militias Forces Ordinary Iraqis to Stay Home” – is ironically juxtaposed over a bustling street scene. As the movie moves along, we see proud university graduates in mortarboards, a middle-aged man repairing shoes and recalling his glory days as a boxer, boys swimming in the river and clowning around, and everyone enthralled by the exploits of the Iraqi soccer team at the Olympics. In other words, we see that the terrorists are failing in their goal of disrupting Iraq’s slow, painful progression toward normality.While “Fahrenheit 9/11” presents antebellum Iraq as an idyllic place where children cavorted with kites, “Voices of Iraq” shows the grim reality: Saddam’s henchmen throwing bound prisoners off buildings, raping girls, and massacring Kurds. One horrifying video clip shows a man having his hand cut off for the crime of being caught with a $5 bill. A survivor of Mr. Hussein’s torture chambers makes light of American abuses at Abu Ghraib: The Americans, he says, “do the nice kind of torture.”A few Iraqis say that, given the current violence, they’d prefer to go back to the old days of Saddamite stability, but most are enthralled by their newfound freedom and optimistic about the future. “Now,” one woman says, “there is opportunity for hope.”Producers Eric Mannes, Archie Drury, and Martin Kunert deserve an Oscar for this eye-opening documentary. But they’re not likely to get it, because that would require Hollywood to acknowledge there’s more to the occupation of Iraq than the evil designs of Halliburton and the neocons.Mr. Boot is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, where this first appeared.

Voices of the Middle East

Voices of the Middle East

More from the New York Sun

Trump Arch To Act as Drone Warehouse, Military Installation

The Human Brain Is Actually Two Separate Organs, Stanford Study Finds

What’s Weird and Wonderful?

Moral Panic Over AI Surges Ahead of Decisive Midterm Elections

‘Fauda’ Is Back — and October 7 Changed Everything

AI Threats Are Expected To Figure in Prep Talks for Trump-Xi Summit

White House Turns Away Journalists From CNN, MS NOW and Politico After Trump Ban

With Trump’s Greenland Deal, Arctic Arms Race Looks Set To Heat Up

More from the New York Sun

Trump Arch To Act as Drone Warehouse, Military Installation

The Human Brain Is Actually Two Separate Organs, Stanford Study Finds

What’s Weird and Wonderful?

Moral Panic Over AI Surges Ahead of Decisive Midterm Elections

‘Fauda’ Is Back — and October 7 Changed Everything

AI Threats Are Expected To Figure in Prep Talks for Trump-Xi Summit

White House Turns Away Journalists From CNN, MS NOW and Politico After Trump Ban

With Trump’s Greenland Deal, Arctic Arms Race Looks Set To Heat Up