tploomis Yunis, the freelance Iraqi journalist who tells this story, had been imprisoned and tortured by one of Saddam Hussein's sons, so he was no friend of that regime. When America starts dropping its bombs and raiding houses, he sets out to document what is happening to his country, courageously venturing out into the mayhem and photographing the disintegration of his country. He goes to the wedding of a friend, his brother fires off celebratory shots in the air, and soon after American military soldiers have broken into his home, capturing Yunis and his brothers at gunpoint and frightening his elderly father and mother. This marks the beginning of a Kafkaesque encounter with military detention. His protestations of innocence do not convince anybody who is in power to release him, although an American soldier who is functioning as a guard at Abu Ghraib forms a bond with him, and they develop a mutual respect. Yunis settles into prison life, eating worm-infested food, sleeping in a tent, living in squalor, and surviving various riots by disgruntled prisoners, most who appear to be in much the same situation as Yunis -- innocent people who have been swept up by indiscriminate military operations. He begins working as an interpreter and at one point is instrumental in quelling a riot. He tries to make his adjustments to this nightmarish existence, and he finds various ways to do something constructive in that context. In this crazy setting no good deed can go unpunished, and he is transfered to the most restrictive part of Abu Ghraib, where he is interrogated and accused of plotting with his brothers to kill Tony Blair! After nine months of captivity he is finally released, the prison camp commander tells him he is no longer a suspect, and he is given an apology for his imprisonment. Yunis goes back to his family with his brothers. There he feels as though he is in a dream, expecting to wake up still imprisoned. This is a disturbing film. It shows American soldiers carrying out operations in a foreign country that destroy people's lives because of the folly of their judgments. It shows American military incarcerating innocent people in very dehumanizing conditions. This Iraqi journalist is trapped in this very strange world --it feels like being held under water. Yunis has experienced it from both sides -- malicious brutality from the regime of Saddam Hussein and then again from the occupying forces of United States. Does America descend to the moral equivalent of the regime they overthrew? This documentary seems to suggest so, although there is some redemption through the voice of one American guard, who describes his experiences in Abu Ghraib and his attempts to bring some sanity to that insane situation. I would have liked subtitles when Yunis is speaking. His English is certainly understandable, but at times it is a struggle.

JustCuriosity An expanded version of this Kafkaesque film screened today at the SXSW Film Festival. The film, a spin off from Tucker and Epperstein's earlier Iraq film, Gunner Palace, tells the story of an ordinary Iraqi arrested and held at Abu Gharib for no apparent reason. Yunnis Abbas is an articulate English-speaking Iraqi journalist - who was once imprisoned and tortured by one of Saddam's sons - is arrested during a raid one night, along with 3 of his brothers, for no apparent reason. He is interrogated and held for 9 months and then suddenly released. There is no expalnation for his detention under awful conditions in an outdoor tent complex at Abu Gharib. There is no evidence beyond a vague and unsubstantiated accusation that he is somehow involved in a plot to kill British Prime Minister Tony Blair.The film tells a story that Americans need to hear. It is one of thousands of such human tales that occur every day in American-occupied Iraq. This story of the injustice done to a single man is a microcosm of the insane nature, brutality, and intelligence failures that have come to typify the war in Iraq. The surreal nature of American soldiers chasing shadows of terrorists is plain to see. While there have been many good films about the Iraq War, this one does an excellent job of humanizing the cost so that Americans can see the destructive and incompetent nature of the human tragedy playing out in Iraq. The film is stark and disturbing to watch with touches of dark humor.The version screened here at SXSW has been significantly expanded to 72 minutes from the 54 minute version that screened in Toronto. The director has added an extended interview with a recently discharged US soldier (Thompson) who guarded Yassin Abbas in Abu Gharib. His presence adds a human element to the American presence. It shows that while many individual soldiers are competent, well-intentioned, and humane, the American presence has become a self-destructive nightmare.This film should be widely viewed by Americans, particularly those who believe that we are succeeded in winning the "War on Terror" through our continued presence in Iraq.

oknotok I wholeheartedly agree with the review by 'pm-84' above. Who cares how many innocent Iraqis have to be treated sub-humanly and imprisoned for months on end? So long as Iraq is safe for Tony Blair to visit for a few hours when he feels like it, the war has been a success. The film focuses on the imprisonment of Iraqi journalist Yunis Abbas, after his family home is raided by US forces who have received intelligence that Yunis is planning to bomb Tony Blair. As 'pm-84' correctly points out, however, the real victim is Tony Blair. Everywhere Tony Blair goes, there may be people who want to do him harm. How are we to know who those people are until we imprison them for 9 months?Despite their highlighting of the dangers faced by our brave Leaders, the filmmakers erred in showing sympathy to the enemy in a time of war, so for this I docked them one mark. 9/10.

Needfire Imagine you're an Iraqi journalist who captures images and stories of the American occupation. Some of the stories show the humanity of the soldiers befriending the kids, giving them chocolates or playing soccer with them. You watch your once beautiful country burn and see nothing except an apocalyptic scene that is now your reality.Yunnis Abbas is the subject of this film. He was once taken prisoner and tortured by Uday Hussein. Under the American occupation, Abbas is mistaken, along with his brothers, as insurgents who are building a bomb in their home. The brothers are all good people with responsible jobs and a devotion to their mom. All of the brothers, including Yunnis, are taken and interrogated but of course, they know nothing about the insurgents because they are ordinary men caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. An embedded videographer who accompanied the Marines on a raid of the Abbas' family home films Yunnis as he's got his hands on his head and proclaiming innocence--he's just a journalist. Nobody believes him.This is an unsettling film. One day you're on the beach or celebrating at a friend's party. The next thing you know, you're caught up in the hell of Abu Ghraib, accused of plotting to kill British prime minister, Tony Blair, because you've done some work for the BBC.This is indeed another documentary about the injustice that so many Iraqis see as they try to eek out an existence under the American occupation. What the viewer sees here is the difficulty that the Americans have in identifying the good guys from the bad. They also have little awareness that they themselves may actually be the bad guys of this situation. Sure, they perceive themselves as liberators but are they when so many Iraqi men are rounded up and questioned mercilessly about their involvement with anti-U.S. activity.The film isn't perfect--it resembles an extended 60 Minutes interview with a man who has definitely been wronged, along with his brothers. One of the most emotionally engaging scenes is when the brothers ask if their mom is okay; they're not to sure if the soldiers will cause harm to their mother. One soldier responds kindly while another one dismisses their pleas to take care of their mom.The filmmaker uses an interesting technique of making certain parts resemble panels of a comic book. At first, I thought that this was odd and off-putting. In the end, it made a lot of sense. Comic books are full of good guys and villains. This war is also full of Rambos and guys who see themselves as the good guys. Whether they are or not remains to be something that will one day be determined in history texts.