Iraq in Fragments (2006)

BEYOND REPAIR? An 11-year-old auto mechanic is one of the people director Longley brings into dramatic focus in his poetic Iraq doc

The fragments that James Longley handles with such grace and intelligence have disintegrated into irreparable shards since the filmmaker assembled his perceptive documentary Iraq in Fragments between 2002 and 2005. Working with vérité patience and no scripted narration, Longley looks and listens, with nonjudgmental sensitivity, as Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish Iraqis explain their colliding, intractable, invaded worlds, and their rising frustrations. He lets people be people, not position-holders. The calm poetry of the cinematography offsets the mess of the politics to stunning effect.