Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

frank-614 It always amazes me to see people who have endured great oppression and pain smiling so freely. The film makes it pretty clear that Iraqis have an indomitable spirit. I was struck by the almost unanimous level of support for America and "democracy" presented in the film - especially since an Iraqi poll released yesterday reported that in some areas 65 percent support attacks on US military, and less than one percent think the occupation is improving security. Even if a cynical view held that the film's American editors introduced their spin, the pure joy expressed by the children and twenty-somethings being filmed and filming was clearly genuine.Included in the film are archival clips - shocking examples of Sadaam's torturers at work. A few seconds of these is almost enough to turn any skeptic into a True Believer Bushite.One grumble: Is there a special motion picture school out there that trains sadists to create captions for foreign language films shown in the US? Those in "Voices of Iraq" have to be the absolute most painful to endure - they are tiny, often projected with little contrast with the background and flashed on and off so fast that one would have to be a champeen speed reader to follow wot the h they said.2nd grumble: Next time they do another film like this, hopefully they will hand out tripods along with the cameras. With the camera movement almost constant and the bleepin captions blinking on and off, it is a challenge to concentrate - but seeing the people up front and close and speaking their minds, made it well worth the minor irritation. Check it out.

Link0007 Voices of Iraq allows us to see Iraq through the point of view of those most affected by the war - ordinary Iraqis themselves. Most footage of Iraq on the news consists of footage of bombed-out cars and of grieving widows; Voices of Iraq is a refreshing break from this.A substantial amount of the film shows Iraqis goofing off in front of the camera, as anyone would do when being filmed in an informal setting. This footage is the most revealing, reminding us that the Iraqs have a sense of humour and are human beings after all, something that is easy to forget when reading about the daily body count after each day's car bombing.One must wonder at the objectivity of the film, however. The Iraqis shown are almost all pro-American, and despite the film being advertised as 'filmed and directed by the people of Iraq', this covers up the fact that the film has been edited and put together by non-Iraqis. The relatives of those Iraqis killed in air strikes or pro-Saddam Iraqis are noticeably absent from the film. Despite this, the film allows us to see life from the point of view of a long-suffering and long-misunderstood people.

Chris_Docker It's hard not to go to a movie called Voices of Iraq without bringing your personal views about the war, but it is a film with a value that goes beyond political.150 video cameras were distributed to ordinary Iraqis over the summer of 2004. The resulting 400 hours of film were collected and edited down to about 80 minutes, subtitled, produced with Ango-Iraqi hip-hop music, occasionally cut with graphic footage from Saddam's regime, and overlaid with U.S. newspaper headlines or occasional explanatory notes. If has a fresh feel to it - if not exactly a tourist promotion video it does let you hear a large number of Iraqis talk about their country in their own words and a variety of locations that a Westerner would have difficulty visiting. What I liked best about it was seeing men, women and children with real hopes and dreams in such a devastated country, genuine smiling faces even in adversity, and some of the love and warmth of local people that is so easily forgotten when we only see footage of a war-torn country. "I hope the world will see our smiles," says one, and it is a beautiful image, far from the stereotype of the terrorist, religious spokesman, insurgent, or politician.Voices of Iraq includes some very moving interviews. A Kurdish woman, restraining her tears as she recalls it, says how she started smoking at University and also regularly burning herself with cigarettes. Why? So she could be 'prepared' for when she was tortured. There were many reminders of the millions that Saddam tortured and killed. One man jokes about wanting to be tortured at Abu Ghraib, comparing the minor violations there to the horrific tortures exacted by Saddam Hussein.Media headlines from the U.S. press are contrasted with opposing footage. For instance, a banner reading, "Militia force people to stay at home" introduces scenes of a vibrant, bustling street-market.For anyone who has served in Iraq, or their friends and family, this is an uplifting film, and in many ways makes a more believable case for the invasion than the politicians on TV. For an upbeat (if not totally pro-American) view of the war it is positive and genuine. To watch it in the same afternoon as Fahrenheit 9/11 (if you are sufficiently open minded) might even persuade you there is no complete right or complete wrong.But like Michael Moore's inflammatory anti-invasion film, Voices of Iraq is flawed and cannot claim to be as impartial or unbiased as it would like, simply because the people speaking on it are Iraqis. We have no way of knowing how it was edited - certainly there is no claim to have used a sociologically sound sampling method and to do so would possibly have made uninteresting viewing, but to suggest it was 'made' by the people of Iraq is disingenuous. Whilst the footage was shot by Iraqis, the editing, and hence any message to be distilled from that large amount of film, was done by an ex marine and his two NY colleagues with MTV experience.Voices of Iraq fills a necessary hole in our understanding as long as it is not viewed unquestioningly. It enables you to feel warmer towards Iraqis as people. If it does 'support the position of the Bush administration' (as some have claimed) that's not sufficient reason to dismiss it.At the Edinburgh International Film Festival UK premiere, Voices of Iraq was screened with a short called, 'Where is Iraq', which likewise has informal interviews with Iraqis, filmed by an Iraqi-Canadian. It provided some balance (as there were more anti-American views than pro) but itself suffered from the same problem - that if you interview enough people you will get the views you want.Whatever your feelings about Iraq, it is still a country of real people, individuals like you or me. Voices of Iraq brings that a little bit closer.

el_topo_foto Just do a little research on the making of this film. Something so simple as a Google search. It was funded by the US Army and promoted just in time for the elections. It is a great idea, but I'd much rather see a DOCUMENTARY, not something edited by the Bush Administration and told its reality. The timing of the movie's release, its tone, and the fact that MS&L promoted it, raised questions about the intent of the movie. "According to MS&L Managing Director Joe Gleason, he and his colleagues also deliver key targeted messages about the war in Iraq to specific constituencies," wrote Eartha Melzer. "Was the left-leaning art house crowd one of those constituencies? Is the government hiring documentary filmmakers to propagandize the U.S. population? Nobody involved with the film is willing to say who initially put up the money for the film or how they ended up represented by the Army's PR firm."