In the Oscar-nominated Iraq in Fragments, James Longley pieces together stories of ordinary Iraqis
By the time you finish watching the film Iraq in Fragments, you have a strong sense of what director James Longley and the Iraqi people are made of.
It doesn’t really matter whether the 34-year-old Seattleite won Best Director at Sundance or lost this year’s Oscar for Best Documentary to Al Gore. Longley survived making the film.
From April 2003 to April 2005, he canvassed a nation in ruins and listened to its people, often spending a year or more to gain people’s confidence, fade into the background and watch their lives unfold in the inescapable uncertainty of war. ...