| War and God at Tribeca |
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| Written by Lise Stevens | |
Watch our interview with Mohamed Al-Daradji:View in new window
War, Love, God & Madness, the new documentary film from Iraqi director Mohamed Al-Daradji, is a labor born of war, nourished by love (on some level), guided by the hand of God, and punctuated by madness. This hair-raising film follows Baghdad-born, Western-educated director Al-Daradji’s return to his country in 2004 and the filming of the 2005 release Ahlaam, about his besieged homeland in the wake of the American invasion of Baghdad. Despite numerous political, social, and logistical obstacles, Al-Daradji finished Ahlaam -- his first feature -- and it was screened globally at several film festivals, receiving several awards in the process. War, Love… was born of the realization that the director had over 70 hours of footage about his filmmaking experience. He decided to convey the extraordinary story of how his feature was made. Armed with a single camera for the entire shoot, Al-Daradji and his small crew are assailed by all the players in the war theater -- U.S. soldiers, separatist fighters, and the very Iraqi police who are supposed to be protecting them -- each and every time the camera starts rolling. We take a white-knuckled journey with the group through nerve-racking footage of volatile checkpoints, sporadic gunfire, and random bombings as they travel around a turbulent Baghdad. The mental and physical toll on the group becomes an entrenched part of the narrative, and the viewer can only wonder at the courage and dedication they exhibited. TimesSquare.com spoke with Al-Daradji at the Tribeca Film Festival, where the film was screened.
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