Iraq War Films May Invade Oscar Ballots

 

Share

0

Foulkrod realized she would need to probe deeply to get to the core of what American soldiers were feeling when they returned from Iraq. She eventually asked them about killing. She says what she saw in their eyes was "an inexplicable feeling of heartbreak and loss and loneliness."

'Iraq In Fragments'

The power of documentaries is they can take the time to see history develop. James Longley, the director of "Iraq in Fragments" spent two years in Iraq.

"I can see people grow up. I can see seasons change," he says. "[I can] see people's opinions change, see the situations around them change. It's a completely different kind of work than the daily news."

Longley spent months building up the trust of the Mahdi Army, the militia of the radical Shiite Cleric Moqtada al Sadr, who allowed him to get shockingly close to Sadr and his fighters. During his filming, there was obvious danger.

"I am willing to assume a certain amount of risk to get the story," Longley says. "I don't really want to get killed. I am not trying to get killed. I am not going out of my way to endanger myself or the people that I am filming."

It may be no surprise that Iraq is now a dominant subject for films, because commentators say films are a reflection of our culture.

Says Longley, "Given that the United States has been occupying Iraq for almost four years with over 100,000 troops, it is surprising to me that there aren't more documentaries."

ABC News' Elizabeth Stuart contributed to this report.