Sublime

[rebeccmeister]

Friday completely made up for Thursday and then some. First, teaching went much more smoothly. My students seemed to really appreciate my brief review of the steps of the scientific method and they asked interesting, insightful questions. One of my students in particular got really fired up about scientific writing and statistics and everything in between and started asking for book recommendations.

Then last night I went to see Iraq in Fragments. Now, I don't know what the theaters looked like in Seattle when IiF first came out, but I'd guess they looked remarkably different from the scene that greeted us at the theater last night. I'm imagining crowds lined up around the block and shows sold out. Well, it was the first night that IiF was showing at the Valley "Art" Theater, and there were maybe 10 audience members total. That was depressing, especially considering what an incredible film IiF is.

But whatever. The film itself was stupendous, as promised. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, and I think that's because there's something indescribable about it. It completely overthrows one's ideas about the Iraq war and about documentaries. Personally, I don't care for documentaries that are politicized or highly biased, even when I agree with the opinions of the documentary-makers. I prefer films and books that simply raise questions instead or offer new perspectives. IiF did this effectively. It gave me the sensation that I have really never thought about or tried to understand Iraqi culture(s) before now. I have had glimpses of what war-torn, occupied countries are like, but I had never had a clear picture of what life in such a state of uncertainty and chaos would be like.

I found two components of the imagery of the film compelling. In a segment that was filmed in Baghdad, at one point two men walked by, carrying car bumpers, which are obviously valuable pieces of metal there. I am reminded of the utter wastefulness of American society in comparison. In a different segment, we saw glimpses of the lives of brick-makers, which reminded me of a film about Iranian brickmakers called Dances of Dust that annikusrex and I saw at the Seattle International Film Festival a few years ago. The whole film highlights the tremendous cultural differences between Americans and Iraqis. Whatever your opinions about the war, you should go see it.

Comments

[cusackam.livejournal.com]

I know for a fact it won't ever play here but it will in Atlanta I'm sure. I will not go see it while Rick is currently in Iraq.

Rick unfortunately had to threaten his driver at gun point who was trying to run a check-point last deployment. He was the passenger, the driver did not want to stop because he was in a hurry to get off work. He was trying to get to the base dump to collect scrap metal. Unfortunately a lot of that metal gets sold to groups who use it to make weapons/bombs/etc.

I think it is time for us to leave Iraq alone.

[annikusrex.livejournal.com]

Regal's Tara 4 Cinemas
Atlanta, Georgia, Opens March 9, 2007

It's not about the troops or even the war, really, it's about the Iraqi people and the occupation. Everyone should see it.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

If I were in your situation, I'd probably have a hard time deciding whether or not to see it. But I hope you do have a chance to see it eventually.

Obviously that's a really hard situation for Rick to be in. It's all just hard and frightening. In some respects, I'd like to be able to agree that we should leave Iraq alone. But at the same time, I feel like we (westerners, not specifically Americans) and the Iraqi people can still benefit from trying to work together. And I still fear that if we back out, we will lose out on an opportunity to try and negotiate through our differences. I don't think military force is the right way to encourage people to work together, though.

[notlostonme.livejournal.com]

I am really glad I got to hear your opinion of the film. I wanted to see it, but Ross really wasn't interested, and I've been waiting to hear from someone that I relate to in terms of what to expect. I will definitely see it now, and I get the feeling that it will only further strengthen my opinion on the matter.

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

Based on this and previous posts you've made, a reader might get the impression that there's not much about American society and culture you find commendable. I'm curious because while I myself have been (and will likely continue to be) highly critical of the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq, I'm always somewhat taken aback when people conflate the two with the American people and American culture in general.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I tend to focus on the negative with respect to mainstream American society and culture. Of course, every culture has its positive elements and negative elements. But I tend to think that some of the negative American cultural elements are more notable because they often represent extremes, especially with respect to consumerism or associated behaviors.

Consider this: based on what the film portrays, it appears the Iraqi people are just as guilty of conflating the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq with American people and American culture in general. So where does that leave us?

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

Apparently, it leaves the Iraqis no better off than some Americans who refuse to believe Muslims are anything but terrorists.

I don't know, I think after three years in the Religious Studies department I'm simply hypersensitive to the very extremes in our culture that you refer to. There's the dumbass uber patriotic American who feels his nation does no wrong and "if you don't like it, leave", and then there's the opposite extreme of people refusing to acknowledge that America has ever done anything positive (and usually these are people who have benefitted the most from American society in terms of economics, or education). I'm not saying you've gone this route mind you, more that after all this time in seminars listening to Western and Enlightenment ideals getting savaged while non-Western, non-Christian systems are treated with PC kid gloves, I've gotten twitchy. :P

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

The presented Iraqi opinions do, indeed, leave some Iraqis in the same position as Americans who make similar generalized remarks.

I've been thinking a lot about what you're talking about. There are some tremendous positives in American society as well, especially with respect to women's rights. That's an aspect of *some* Muslim cultures I very strongly disagree with. Again, if you go to see the film, pay attention to how many women you actually see.

A couple of courses that I took on Native American issues made me more aware of the consequences of making sweeping generalizations about any culture. I still tend to be hyper-critical of overconsumption, though, because I don't see a whole lot of other people speaking up about it or thinking about it in this part of the country.

After we left the theater last night a friend of mine commented that I be a much different person if I had grown up in a small midwestern town--I'd probably be utterly thrilled that a film like Iraq in Fragments even came along in the first place instead of getting caught up in the fact that nobody has gone to see it. I would like to hope that my criticisms aren't always just criticisms/complaints but are (at least occasionally) remarks that point out how things could be different.

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

It sounds like an interesting film, to be sure. You might also be interested in Death in Gaza, in which filmmaker James Miller followed three Palestinian children about in 2003 to get a firsthand glimpse of their beliefs and daily lives. Some of it is pretty hard to stomach, but that sort of unvarnished glimpse is totally necessary in my opinion, because it reveals them to be neither saints or sinners but human equally capable of compassion and barbarity. Miller had planned to do a sequel interviewing Israeli children as a counterbalance to this, but was mistakenly shot and killed by Israeli forces and so never got the chance.

I will probably see IiF after reading this thread, but I admit to a certain level of war fatigue concerning Iraq. I suspect there's as many people staying away from the film because they've simply absorbed enough of the disaster, as there are those who assume it's just a piece of leftist anti-war propaganda. I know I'm guilty myself of simply condemning outright the Bush Administration for being liars, chickenhawks, and war profiteers, and then burying my head in the sand. I remember reading a revealing but highly depressing piece last summer written in QG about a reporter's stay in Baghdad. The conditions he described were absolutely horrifying in terms of the sectarian violence and living conditions, and they will doubtless get worse after we finally pull out. The entire thing is FUBAR, and I'm disgusted by the Bush Administration's complicity in making it so. So I guess what I'm saying is, absorbing yet another informative but distressing piece on the whole friggin' mess when there's no solution to it is not high on my priority list. That sounds horribly defeatist, doesn't it?

(sorry, it wasn't my intention to hijack your thread, it just makes for interesting discussion)

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

(sorry, it wasn't my intention to hijack your thread, it just makes for interesting discussion)
(yes, I agree--I'm grateful for the opportunity to discuss. That's what f-lists are for, right?)

I just recently heard about Death in Gaza--I can't remember who was telling me about it. But it also sounds quite interesting. I'll have to look into it.

War fatigue is understandable. I had been feeling similarly, but then I went and saw IiF, and it reminded me that it's actually kind of frightening that Americans can get away with such apathy. Most of us still aren't forced to look the war in the eye (unlike my cousin, cusakam, whose husband is there and who has to think about it every day when her kids ask where their dad is), but that doesn't mean it isn't happening and isn't affecting our lives.

In fact, I think some of the American apathy actually reflects a pre-9/11 isolationist attitude. We can chalk some of that isolationism up to the current presidential administration, but the American people also need to take some responsibility for it--generally speaking, we often take a NiMBY (not in my backyard) attitude towards a lot of important international issues. For instance, it's actually very hard to find good, regular coverage of international politics through mainstream American media. If it relates to illegal immigration, sure, it makes the news. But we have to go beyond building fences and detonating bombs. IiF raises some good questions and tries to go beyond making audience members feel guilty.

[annikusrex.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it. A lot of people think they've seen too many depressing images from Iraq, but the evening news never played anything so culturally embedded and insightful as Iraq in Fragments. I don't even think it's that depressing, except when you compare the relative calm existing in Baghdad when it was shot to what those neighborhoods evidently look like now. I've found myself wondering frequently whether the boy in that section is still alive and what he's doing.

Hey, apparently it opens in Toronto this weekend too. Better go tell Hillary to see it.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

I told a number of the social insect boys about the film right before I went to see it, and one of them said, "I saw Lost Children this week and it already made me feel guilty." So he declined to watch Iraq in Fragments. Ever since he made the remark I've been thinking about what it means to feel guilty--in many ways, guilt is such a useless, paralyzing emotion. Then one of the things I really appreciated about Iraq in Fragments was that it didn't make me feel guilty--it was insightful, as you have said. I mean, there's nothing we can do about what has already happened, but positive change can only happen if we understand what's going on. And of course in this case, the US has had a direct role in what's happening, so we have to take responsibility.

[earthlingmike.livejournal.com]

I've been avoiding any subject that pertains to that sort of thing for years. If I went to see that movie, what am I going to learn; that we're making a big mess in Iraq and that the Bush administration is corrupt? Yeah no shit. It's just like going through discomfort for something that I already know I'm adamantly against and have been since the 1999 election.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Actually, if you see the film, you could learn a lot about the Iraqi people. It's not a black-and-white situation (no matter that Bush tries to spin it that way all the time), and I think it's helpful to understand the cultural conflict that's going on. It wasn't really all that overtly political. And we can't make the situation go away by avoiding it.

[earthlingmike.livejournal.com]

Watching a film about the subject just doesn't fit into my plan for what I want to do personally about the situation. It would just seem like unnecessary discomfort to me when I've got enough other annoying things in my life, I want to put that time and energy towards a focused plan.

I was very glad to see that the film exists and it certainly serves a purpose in a society where ignorance is an epidemic.

[annikusrex.livejournal.com]

It really wouldn't be a discomfort. It's a portrait of three cultures, which are affected by hundreds of political crosscurrents--including the war, but not exclusively.

Tonally, the film is resigned but, I think, uplifting. And it's incredibly beautiful. Rejecting (aesthetic) experiences because they don't fit into a (political) plan is very sad.