Operation Filmmaker (2008)
Soon after the fall of Baghdad in 2003, a young and charismatic film student, Muthana Mohmed, stands in the rubble of the city's film school and explains to an American television audience that his dream of becoming a filmmaker has been destroyed - first by Saddam Hussein, then by American bombs. This brief, fortuitous appearance on MTV changes Muthana's life forever. Watching in the United States, actor/director Liev Schreiber stops channel surfing, utterly captivated. Feeling guilty about a war he opposed, Schreiber decides to extend to the unknown Iraqi the opportunity of a lifetime - to come to Prague to work on an American movie, Everything Is Illuminated. On set, frustrated expectations complicate the relationship between Muthana and his American benefactors in what becomes a cross-cultural endeavor gone awry. Filmmaker Nina Davenport becomes increasingly entangled in the young Iraqi's life as his visa is about to expire and the threat of returning to Baghdad looms...
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Muthana Mohmed is a film student in Baghdad who was filmed in a segment for MTV where he shows viewers what life is like in the aftermath of the US invasion/liberation (delete according to your own politics). By chance filmmaker Liev Schreiber was in his New York flat ahead of directing his first film (Everything is Illuminated) in Prague and was watching MTV when this bit was on. Inspired by the young man, Schreber decides to invite him to work as an intern on the film. However Muthana finds himself a tad overwhelmed by the new world and perhaps doesn't perform as he should, leading him to longer term problems.The potted summaries you get of this film suggest that something extreme happens when a young Iraqi film student is offered a life line by an American star and that this event or series of events will be enough to carry the film. The truth is that nothing of the sort really happens and instead nothing particularly comes from his experience on his first film although he does manage to become a runner on another. He is a bit lazy and perhaps resists the tasks he should be doing because he feels them below him but nothing amazing happens to him. What we then get is 90 minutes following him in particular as he tries to stay out of Iraq and, as the film career of the first half fades away, the film becomes more about him and director Davenport. I want to say that I got something from it a lesson of some sort but I didn't because it just seemed to become more and more petty and less interesting as it went on. The problem is that, without a wider theme or message, the subject is solely Muthana and he is not bad or good enough to be fascinating but rather just a bit irritating.I'll let the messages boards argue the Hitler/Jesus lines but the truth is he is neither, which is a shame because someone who is a little bit annoying and self-defeating is not the most interesting subject for a film and, although I'm sure she tried to get something, Davenport ultimately ends up with nothing to really show for her time. This shows in the very poor way that links back to Iraq are used but thankfully someone had the sense to minimise these. There is a lot of praise for this film and certainly the two-line summary of the subject makes it sound fascinating but I can assure you that, at best, this documentary is OK but gets duller as it goes on to the point where it fades away with nothing of interest or value to leave the audience with other than an apologetic note from the filmmaker that is about her, not anyone else.
When an American actor spotted a short MTV film about a bombed Iraqi film school, he arranged for one of the students to work as an intern on 'Everything is Illuminated', the movie has was about to direct. Unfortuantly, Muthana turned out to be spoilt, proud and unable to enjoy the unglamourous chores that comprise an intern's lot. But immaturity is not a crime, and it's understandable when Muthana tries to plan a permanent escape from Iraq, given the terrible situation at home. But his attempts to wheedle money and favours from those who have helped him are embarrassing: he is the sort of person who, through claiming not to care about money, always needs others to give it to him. But Nina Davenport's documentary about Muthana is arguably a film that shouldn't have been released. The story she might have hoped to make, that of a fairytale, never comes true. Moreover, as she continues to film in spite of the absence of narrative, Muthana identifies her as the most useful person he can tap for money and contacts (and makes the fair point that she is aiming to make money out of filming him). The film ends on an unhappy note all round - Nina is feeding Muthana (with money, and assistance on foreign visas) and is feeling trapped; Muthana (as a flat-mate succinctly puts it) believes himself to be the only person in the world with problems, and the integrity of this documentary has been compromised, as Muthana's relationship with the film-maker becomes the film's own subject. Some of the most riveting documentaries I've seen feature a film-maker who inadvertently becomes part of the story; sometimes a director goes on camera because of their ego; in Nina's case, the motivation appears to be simple: she doesn't have anything else to film. And one sad story amidst a greater tragedy plays out worse than it needed to because of it.
This is a small-ish film but I think it's wonderful and quite a leap from many docs. Not only is the director/producer/editor/photographer is the same person and is behind the camera, the events that unfold make her also an actress - in her own film, which is the self-conscious representation of the diary of Muthana. The movie works in a few levels, and the viewer is so left to make up his/her own mind with regards to the person in the centre of it all. Beyond anything, it's a candid personal portrait of someone who is fighting for his life (but also for the Easy Life) - and does so in the most unlikeable way. We sympathise yet we don't feel empathy towards Muthana. And that says it all - he is a unique and unrelentlessly himself, even if it's not the right person to fit the mold we expect. I'm curious where he is now... Anything can happen with this guy...!
A young film student gets himself on MTV expressing his feelings about his dreams of becoming a film maker being shattered by first the dictator ruling over his country of birth, Iraq, and then by US that bombed it. This show gets seen by an American film maker that wants to give him a chance of a life time and invites him to come to Prague to help and learn during a film he is making there.This documentary starts there, as the student arrives and starts helping along in the making of the film and gets introduced to all the various angles to making one. As it continues it shows the changes in the student and his surroundings and the way he deals with that.Being a typical documentary this film doesn't have any special effects whatsoever - except for the occasional ones seen when they arrive at the scene of a film that uses them. It uses a very direct and personal approach and the maker of the documentary herself gets fairly involved with the person she is filming and that makes it very close but also very nice to watch. It's a bit like reading some ones personal diary but with them standing right next to you and commenting on what you are reading.It is easy to judge the film student but for me that isn't the point of a film review. As a documentary I can rate this fairly highly as it uses an interesting approach that keeps one bound to the chair during its full length.8 out of 10 film makers interrogated