My Country My Country

In her films, documentarian Laura Poitras hopes to make viewers question the nature of power and of power dynamics. She emphasizes the importance of people actually seeing, on film or with their own eyes, how power is used and how it can be abused in very critical situations and environments. My Country My Country, Poitras’ poignant Academy Award nominated documentary about an Iraqi doctor, humanitarian, and politician, certainly does just that.

Poitras intercuts scenes of Dr. Riyadh’s life and struggles with the on-going U.S. military occupation of Iraq leading up to the 2005 elections. Her emotional juxtaposition of the two different views allows viewers to connect and identify with Dr. Riyadh. The intimacy with which Poitras portrays the daily struggles of Iraqi life during the U.S. occupation through the eyes of Dr. Riyadh’s family highlights the injustices Iraqis must constantly face, injustices to which most Americans have little access because our perspective of the war is at all times mediated by our. news media and our ideologies. It is also interesting to note how these juxtapositions highlight the irony of the entire U.S. occupation of Iraq. It’s a shame that more of the Iraqi population went to the polls to vote on election day with lives in danger than did our own population. Poitras certainly forces her viewers to question the very nature of power and the assumptions made by people under that power.