Operation Filmmaker (2007) (review)

Once in a while, a film will appear that is not only significantly different from what its creator initially intended, but much better as well, revealing unanticipated insights and truths about important matters. While this could conceivably occur with any film, it is perhaps most likely to happen with documentaries that follow contemporary stories as they unfold. A good example of this is Startup.com, the 2001 documentary by Chris Hegedus and Jehane Nougaim.

Likewise, Nina Davenport's recent release, Operation Filmmaker (2007) falls into this category. The film was inspired by actor and first-time filmmaker Liev Schreiber's idea to offer twenty-five-year old Iraqi film student Muthana Mahmud an internship for the filming of Everything is Illuminated (2005). Schreiber had seen Muthana interviewed on MTV in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the bombing of the film school in Baghdad, and was moved by the young man's passion to become a filmmaker. As a result, Muthana, who had never been outside of Iraq, was flown to the Czech Republic, where filming was just beginning. And Nina Davenport, who had a number of highly regarded documentaries to her credit, would chronicle the experience.

Muthana's arrival at the Prague airport was certainly an auspicious beginning, as he and Schreiber embraced enthusiastically. Yet, it would not be long before disappointments and misunderstandings would make their appearance. The first small incident occurred when Schreiber asked Muthana to bring " . . . the big not the small storyboards." In the very next scene, we see the intern requesting the small storyboards. This would mark the beginning of a slow but relentless downward spiral. Shortly afterwards, the producer's assistant instructed an incredulous Muthana about preparing and delivering coffee and snacks to those on the set. Although he does what is expected of him, he informs the camera, "It's not my fucking job." And when Davenport asks whose job it is, he simply repeats himself.

What perhaps caused the greatest disillusionment for Schreiber and company was the way Muthana handled an editing project intended as part of the wrap party. Despite being told that this was a significant responsibility, and that it had to be completed promptly, Muthana spent the evening partying with friends, and then lied about how much time he had spent on the project.

As the relationship with Muthana deteriorated, so too did the political situation in Iraq. Davenport works several scenes of the carnage wrought by suicide bombers and death squads into her narrative. Also, having sent film equipment to Muthana's friends in Baghdad, she includes videos from these young men urging Muthana not to return home. Muthana agrees that returning to Baghdad is not an option. He explains that "Working with Americans . . . a Jewish director, a Jewish movie, defending the Jewish theory" could earn him a bullet in the head.

Toward the end of filming Illuminated, director Peter Saraf, who had been among Muthana's most enthusiastic supporters, appeared rather somber about the entire experience. Very reluctantly and with obvious discomfort, he suggests that not only had it not turned out as they all had hoped, but that it had become a part of the ongoing American-Iraqi tragedy. After saying of Bush's invasion of Iraq, "What the fuck did you think was going to happen, you idiot?," he reflected for a moment about his own Iraqi experience. "Should I think that about myself? Well, probably, but I'm not there yet."

With the conclusion of Illuminated, Muthana found employment on Doom, an American science fiction film. And after alternating between whether to return home, go to America, or remain in the Czech Republic, he eventually went to London to study filmmaking at the London Academy Film School. It is also during this period that Muthana's continual requests for Davenport's financial help, and his refusal to find work, caused their relationship to deteriorate. Ironically, Davenport had become one of her films' subjects. The scenes of her and Muthana arguing over money and whether...