US film "Blood of my Brother" shows Iraqi tragedy By Claudia Parsons

US film "Blood of my Brother" shows Iraqi tragedy By Claudia Parsons
Thu May 4, 5:07 PM ET



NEW YORK (Reuters) - As Iraq sinks into sectarian fighting, a documentary by a U.S. director who spent six months in Baghdad in 2004 explores the roots of Iraq's violence and why so many young men there are drawn to take up arms.

"The Blood of My Brother" focuses on one Shi'ite family after the death of the oldest son and breadwinner, Ra'ad, a professional photographer who was shot by a U.S. patrol.

The exact circumstances of his death are unclear but it seems to have occurred while he was working a shift as a volunteer guard outside a Shi'ite mosque. The focus of the movie, however, is the impact on his family, especially his younger brother Ibrahim, aged 19 at the time.

"His brother was supporting the family, now his brother is gone and he has to take over and take care of the family and he's really not old enough to do it. He's understandably angry," director Andrew Berends said in an interview.

The film had its U.S. premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, which ends this weekend, as the war is increasingly unpopular in America.

It shows how Ibrahim is tempted to join the Shi'ite uprising against U.S. troops that erupted in Najaf in 2004, led by the Mehdi Army loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

"When I see a burning tank, it makes me happy. When I see any Americans or Jews, I want revenge, but I can't. I have to take care of the house," Ibrahim says in the film, which shows him watching a Mehdi Army recruiting video.

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I often wonder why so much is made out Iraqi deaths since we have been in Iraq and so little is made out of American deaths? Could it be that film makers and MSM have an anti-American agenda? No surely not!

Saddam was in power for how many years? How many people did Saddam and his merry band of thugs slaughter? This reminds me of the comparisons that are never made between Stalin & Hitler. Stalin murdered far more people than Hitler did, but you won't see many movies or books that portray Stalin as a mass murderer.