OPERATION FILMMAKER

Directed By Nina Davenport

I watched Everything Is Illuminated over a year ago, and I thought it was a very enjoyable film.  What I loved most about the film was the culture clash of two different worlds and how they must find common ground.

The documentary OPERATION FILMMAKER directed by Nina Davenport, began as an experiment that was the brainchild of Live Shreiber.  He saw a young Iraqi film student on an MTV documentary one late night and decided he wanted to help his dream come true.  He and the producers of his film Everything Is Illuminated got the young Iraqi a greencard to come and work on the film as an assistant.  Nina Davenport was hired to create a doc about the young man.  It began as a nice film about helping a young man out of his terrible situation, and from there it goes horribly awry.  From the first moments Muthana Mohmed arrived on the set of the film, you could see that sometimes the best intentions can have serious consequences. 

Muthana spoke often about his passion for directing and film, however his actions never seemed to match his words.  But, how could they.  He was thrown into a world, unlike any he had ever seen.  He did not know how to act or react to most things going on around him.  More than that, he realized that this wild ride had to come to an end at some point and time and he must return to his war torn country.  I thought at times some of the filmmakers and actors on the Illuminated set were too westernized and of course had no way of understanding being in the middle of a country at war.  The way he first sees the Americans and their simple Hollywood demands was funny and a complete fish out of water story.

However, saying that I can also not excuse Muthana’s actions.  He did not ever seem to have any real ambition, except talking about not going back to Iraq.  But even then he seemed to flip flop often.  It makes sense that a young Iraqi male who works on an American film about Jewish people and culture might have a problem being welcomed back with open arms.  He seems to realize that and use it to stay in the country of Prague.  On his second film as a PA he talks “The Rock” into paying for his year tuition at London Film Institute.  But the only constant he seemed to keep was his need for documentarian Nina Davenport.

This is what I find the most interesting about the film, Nina’s role in enabling the young man because she did not know what else to do.  If she didn’t help him with his rent he would be homeless.  He would not eat, it goes on an on.  He berates her at times, like a petulant child who did not get his way.  Their relationship became what the film was truly about:  Her guilt and his need. 

The Q&A afterwards was at times a little volatile.  People saw the film from both sides it seems.  Most understood the frustrations, guilt and eventual departure of the filmmaker.  Others saw a young man torn from his country and suffering in shock because of his past and his need of a future.  I found this film to be truly thought provoking.  A wonderful study of American guilt, the war and a lone Iraqi male struggling to find himself in a world that left him behind.

Kristoffershane