AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

larma7 This is stunning film.Although perhaps it would have had more impact seeing the film right when initially released, when the conflict in Iraq was near its peak of violence, the documentary still offers a highly unique look into the Sunni, Shia, and Kurd conflicts. This is the ultimate slice of life documentary that delves straight into the everyday lives of Iraqis. Its goal isn't to offer some kind captivating narrative, nor to offer any kind of political commentary. It moves at a slow, tranquil pace, loosely structured in three chapters. The filmmaker, James Longley, stays as detached and neutral as possible, yet his camera is always strikingly up close and intimate with his subjects. There is no narration, allowing the people being filmed to fully tell their stories. The craft on display comes from the editing, which is highly stylized -- however, save for a few moments where it was overly jerky, the editing is in my opinion masterful and gives the film such a unique feel and rhythm that I haven't found in any other documentary. This might be a stretch, but at times while watching I felt like this is the kind of documentary that Terrence Malick would make. It's that cinematic! Needless to say, I also thought it was visually stunning.I imagine many will be turned off by Longley's technique here, but I think if you're in a mellow mood, the film can slowly take hold of you and let you become immersed in the setting and the people's lives. The film offers nothing more than a look into the struggling lives of Iraqi citizens, dealing with foreign occupiers, adjusting after years of oppression, and trying to survive in an intense civil/religious war among each other. We witness their every day lives, the mundane and constant struggle of it all. We listen in on their conversations and interactions. We see them in both happy and sad moments. Ones of despair and chaos. We see brutality and bloodshed. Some have called this film boring, but I found it a very unique, at times fascinating, and always intimate portrait of a great human struggle.This is an essential film for people interested in the conflict or documentaries as an art-form.

riceowensmoss John Langely somehow created amazing shots all the while risking his life daily in a war zone where white skin can be a death sentence. I recommend this film not just to the documentary crowd, but to anyone interested in the Iraq war. Sometimes the shots are so breath-taking you don't believe it's reality, it is too perfect, even beautiful. I would have called this film, Iraq in people, because thats what I saw in this film, an intimate, very personal look at the struggles of people, who live in a war. The relationship between the boy(Muhammad) and his boss is hard to watch. The boy admires him like a father, but the man puts him down often and with no visible regret when he breaks the boy down because he can't spell his father's name after 4 years of school.

zetes Well, I finally found the very best documentary from 2006. This exploration of Iraq is reminiscent of the beautiful ethnographic documentaries (and faux-documentaries) of pioneer Robert J. Flaherty. The images are awe-inspiring and completely indelible. The film is broken into three parts. In the first segment, we follow the life of an 11 year-old Sunni boy in Baghdad. The second depicts Shia Muslims in Southern Iraq, particularly the followers of Moqtada al-Sadr. And the third follows a Kurdish family in Northern Iraq. Unlike Flaherty's documentaries, Longley's film is entirely real. The man spent two years wandering Iraq by himself with a camera starting in April of 2003, less than a month after George W. Bush famously declared that major military operations were complete. He's a white man, and it's stunning that he was able to infiltrate these people and film them on such an intimate level. The first and third segments probably held their own danger, but the second segment is especially impressive. How in Hell was Langley able to accompany Shi'ites as they kidnapped alcohol-peddling shopkeepers? It's mind-boggling. This is a rare documentary that is both informative and incredibly cinematic. As a whole, I think Iraq in Fragments comes pretty close to being a masterpiece. There's a silhouetted sequence of some Kurdish kids burning a tractor tire that is one of the most gorgeous shots I've ever seen. Definitely one of the best films of 2006.

visitourwebsite Iraq in Fragments is James Longley's "fly on the wall" documentary looking at the in transition Iraqi society broken into three parts and three points of view. 11 year old orphan Mohammed in working class Baghdad; fanatical Shias led to attacks on the mainly Christian liquor sellers by an Islamic cleric; and a Kurdish point of view around Arbil.Aptly titled, the documentary has no familiar cohesive structure that audiences are used to seeing. We're in the midst of a great uprising of the documentary and many of the "rules" of genre are being thrown out the window. This has been, for the most part successful. But for Iraq In Fragments the filmmaker's goal may have been as simple as "Let's go to Iraq, and then just roll tape". Unfortunately this means leads to the same end; a scramble of confused parts that while sometimes breathtaking and always eye opening are simply detrimentally flawed when attempting to convey a clear picture of the situation in Iraq.The big redeeming quality here is the unique and jaw-dropping photography of the state of Iraq which fully immerses it's audience at the street level. Helicopters above, soldiers beside. Sadly, with the exception of a few short sequences, the subtitles draw your eye from the image to the bottom of the frame and keep you worried you're missing something important.The overall feeling that does come across is that to the Iraqi -no matter Shiite, Sunni, or Kurd- the opinion of the occupation is summed in a quote from the film; "They took away one Saddam and brought us one hundred".Iraq In Fragments is now playing at the Uptown Stage & Screen.C Matt Watterworth http://www.theweal.com