My Country, My Country
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''My Country, My Country'' is a 2006
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
about Iraq under U.S. occupation by the filmmaker
Laura Poitras Laura Poitras (; born February 2, 1964) is an American director and producer of documentary films. Poitras has received numerous awards for her work, including the 2015 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ''Citizenfour'', about Edwa ...
.


Film

Laura Poitras spent over eight months working on her own and for some time following a
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
Civil Affairs team during the elections in
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
filming the documentary. The film shows life in Iraq for average Iraqis under
U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
occupation. Poitras focuses primarily on Dr. Riyadh al-Adhadh, an Iraqi medical doctor, father of six and
Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
political candidate. The film was well received by critics and was nominated for an
Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for Best Documentary Feature. The film had a limited U.S. theatrical release. The
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
program ''
P.O.V. ''POV'' (also written ''P.O.V.'') is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) public television series which features independent nonfiction films. ''POV'' is an initialism for ''point of view''. ''POV'' is the longest-running showcase on television ...
'' broadcast the film in October 2006. After completing the film, Poitras claims "Since completing My Country, My Country, I've been placed on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) watch list" and to have been notified by airport security "that my 'threat rating' was the highest the Department of Homeland Security assigns". The film is one of three in a series, with the second being ''
The Oath The Oath may refer to: Books * ''The Oath'' (Wiesel novel), a 1973 novel by Elie Wiesel * ''The Oath'' (Peretti novel), a 1995 novel by Frank E. Peretti * '' The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court'', a 2012 book by Jeffrey Toobin ...
'' (2010). The third, ''
Citizenfour ''Citizenfour'' is a 2014 documentary film directed by Laura Poitras, concerning Edward Snowden and the NSA spying scandal. The film had its US premiere on October 10, 2014, at the New York Film Festival and its UK premiere on October 17, 2014, ...
'' (2014), focuses on the NSA's domestic surveillance programs. She is suing the U.S. government over her 40 detentions by US officials.


Reception


Critical response

''My Country, My Country'' has an approval rating of 86% on
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 36 reviews, and an average rating of 7.09/10. The website's critical consensus states, "This war documentary offers a valuable look at Iraqi life under the U.S. occupation, and finds a compelling central subject in Dr. Riyadh".
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
assigned the film a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


See also

* ''Axis of Evil'' *'' Baghdad or Bust'' *''
Control Room A control room or operations room is a central space where a large physical facility or physically dispersed service can be monitored and controlled. It is often part of a larger command center. Overview A control room's purpose is produc ...
'' * ''Kill the Messenger'' *''
The Unreturned ''The Unreturned'' is a 2010 documentary film by Nathan Fisher. The film tells the story of five middle-class Iraqi refugees caught in an absurdist purgatory of endless bureaucracy, dwindling life savings, and forced idleness. ''The Unreturned'' wa ...
'' *''
War Feels Like War ''War Feels Like War'' is a 2004 British documentary film. Made for BBC Storyville and TV 2 (Denmark), it was broadcast in the United States as part of the ''P.O.V.'' series. The film "portrays journalists who covered the war in Iraq without th ...
'' *''
The Oath The Oath may refer to: Books * ''The Oath'' (Wiesel novel), a 1973 novel by Elie Wiesel * ''The Oath'' (Peretti novel), a 1995 novel by Frank E. Peretti * '' The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court'', a 2012 book by Jeffrey Toobin ...
'' *''
Citizenfour ''Citizenfour'' is a 2014 documentary film directed by Laura Poitras, concerning Edward Snowden and the NSA spying scandal. The film had its US premiere on October 10, 2014, at the New York Film Festival and its UK premiere on October 17, 2014, ...
'', a 2014 documentary film directed by Laura Poitras about Edward Snowden and the first major disclosure of the
National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
's global surveillance system and its use against
US citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...
s.


References

POV 2006 TV Schedule (https://www.pbs.org/pov/mycountry/)


External links

*
Laura Poitras Featured Video Interview: The Alcove with Mark Molaro
**Alternate Traile


EPIC Ground Truth Project: Interview with Director Laura PoitrasJoe M. O'Connell review in The Austin Chronicle
* * Distributor's webpage. * * {{Laura Poitras 2006 films 2006 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about the Iraq War American independent films POV (TV series) films Films directed by Laura Poitras 2000s English-language films 2000s American films