Search - BOY OF BAGHDAD on DVD

Filmed in August 2004 by an Embedded Iraqi crew!

Jim Starke | Los Angeles | 01/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"(Iraq, 2004) Produced and Directed by: Dr. Sabah Al-Moswi. Running time: 67 minutes. Color. Stereo. In Arabic with English, French and German subtitles. DVD BONUS: scene selection, extra footage, glossary, trailer and 24-picture photo gallery.

For more than twenty-five years, Award Films International (AFI) has sought to bring you the best, and often the most controversial, films available world-wide. They have succeeded once more with the exclusive release of the groundbreaking new documentary BOY OF BAGHDAD. Using an embedded Iraqi film crew, AFI has delivered an unprecedented look at life inside post-war Iraq, all from the unique perspective of a precocious twelve-year-old boy. Doe-eyed and adorable Kheer Allah with his mother, father, two brothers and sister live in an empty house where they earn their rent by guarding it and doing repairs for the owner. Their "home" has no furniture and no modern appliances, except for an old television and radio sitting precariously atop an oil drum and stack of used tires. There's no meat on this family's table. Home-baked pita bread is the staple in this beyond-poor household. School is out of the question too. Young Kheer Allah must work every day to help his family survive. This daily struggle forms the heart of this remarkable film. Through the wind-swept and war-ravaged streets of his neighborhood, Kheer Allah parlays his abundant charm into a variety of odd jobs that bring little money, but much satisfaction to his ever-smiling face. BOY OF BAGHDAD is the heartbreaking, and very real, story of a remarkable boy forced to grow up much too quickly, in a dangerous world gone mad with politics and fanaticism. One that has sadly ignored its most vulnerable citizens, its children."

Boy of Baghdad brings home the live in Iraq.

meikel14 | Los Angeles, CA United States | 06/24/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Today few people seem to care about the citizens in present-day Iraq, a land torn by war and insurgency that may never again become the peaceful place it once was. It is the more astounding then, that a small - but well-known - American studio has made a documentary about every-day life in the busy city of Baghdad.

Taken from a unique perspective, Boy of Baghdad is void of any political message and instead simply follows the goings-on in the life of little Kheer Allah, a precocious twelve-year old with a warm heart and a bright smile.
We soon learn that Kheer Allah's family has suffered greatly as the result of the war. Living in a single room of a - by Iraqi standards - sprawling mansion, Kheer Allah's family takes great care to renovate the rooms and to guard the property from robbers and burglars roaming the streets. There's no school for Kheer Allah and his siblings - not due to lack of time, but due to lack of money - for Kheer Allah has to supplement his father's meager workman's income with money from chores he does for the neighbors.

Kheer Allah has little time to play but once in a while he manages to go with a friend or his brother to a local ball field where kids from the neighborhood play soccer to the sound of guns fired.
Many "Westerners" would crumble under such conditions seeking well-fare aid or supplements from the government, but even this is an unknown in Iraq where everyone has to fight for himself and his next of kin. But Kheer Allah and his family show a spirit to persevere and to stick together for the hopes of better days ahead.
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