KILOMETRE ZERO

France/Iraq, 2005, 91 minutes.
Nazmi Kirik, Eyam Ekrem.
Directed by Hiner Saleem.

Now, here is a film with a definite, even exultant, strong point of view. It is a Kurdish film, with French collaboration. Right at the outset we hear Kurds announce that President Bush and the US might be imperialists but they did get rid of the loathed Saddam Hussein. If it had been France or Switzlerland who did it, the Kurds would have welcomed them. The dread name of ‘Chemical Ali’ is invoked and we flash back to 1988.

The contempt of Iraqis for the Kurds is palpable. The feeling is, of course, mutual. Men are arbitrarily taken, some shot, others conscripted and sent to Basra to fight Iran. They are humiliated. This is especially true of a fat Kurd called Sami who is made to run, dance, his feet beaten and generally made a laughing stock ( but still expected to fight for Iraq).

The bulk of the film is a trip back to Kurdistan by Ako, who has wanted to move his wife and son and his dying father-in-law away from danger. He accompanies an Iraqi driver as they drive a ‘martyr’ of the war back to his home town. They clash, they fight, military officers bark orders and insults. They are their own civil war.

The film is crisply photographed bringing out the dust of the desert and the majesty of the mountains. The theme is (very) serious but there are spoof moments, especially with Sami, with Ako wanting shells to destroy his leg in the trench so that he can go back home – and trucks going up and down the countryside with saluting statues of Saddam Hussein.

As a film, plot and acting, it is fairly ordinary. It is the passion and the theme that keep our attention, as it ends on April 9th, 2003, with Ako and his wife in exile in Paris shouting exuberantly that the Kurds are now free.

1. An Iraqi film, French collaboration? In the setting of 2005, after the Iraq war, the freedom of the Kurds?

2. The strong point of view, the Kurdish loyalty, the clashes with the Iraqi, the persecution of the Kurds by the Iraqis? Mutual hatred?

3. The photography, the opening, the closure in France? The Kurdish landscapes, the mountains? The homes, the towns? The contrast with the Iraqi desert? The musical score?

4. The opening, the comments on President Bush, American imperialism, the freedom of Iraq, the toppling of Saddam Hussein? The invitation to whatever country, France or Switzerland?

5. The rounding up of the men, the barbarity of the soldiers, the executions at the whim of the officer, the electrician being killed, Arko being allowed to live? The humiliation of Sami, making him go down the steps backwards, dance, run? The humiliation by the Iraqi soldiers of the Kurds?

6. Arko, his relationship with Selma, her dying father and his being cantankerous, the temptation to kill him? His love for his boy? The option of going to the guerrillas in the mountains or to fight with the Iraqis?

7. The three friends, Sami, Arko and the other soldier? Their training, the treatment by the officers? The buildings, wanting to escape but not having any way of doing so? The bombardments? In the trenches, action? The absurdity of Arko wanting them to shoot off his leg as he had seen the man without a leg in his home town? The irony of Sami and his not running, the later information about his death?

8. Arko and the driver, their long trek through the desert with the corpse? The many martyrs and their being returned to their homes? Through the desert, to the posts and the officers not wanting the bodies being seen, insulting the Kurds, their being hungry and difficult to get food? Travelling through the night? The bridge

9. The clash between Arko and the driver? The mutual hatred, the fights, laughing together, fighting together? Their sharing the hunger together? Stranded in the desert, taking the coffin off the van, the driver going and not returning? Arko and the desert, his anger and desecrating the Iraqi flag? Leaving the coffin with the note?

10. His going to the town, finding the man without the arm, his proposal, Selma, the boy and her father coming? The possibility of settling down, on the border with Turkey? The happiness of husband and wife together?

11. Putting the old man under the tree, the sudden incursion of the planes, the bombardment – and the indication of chemical weapons and the destruction of the Kurds?

12. The finale, fifteen years later, Arko and Selma in France, the news of the taking of Baghdad? The joy and their proclaiming their freedom?

13. The impact for those in favour of the Iraqi war, the freedom of the Kurds? For those against the war? For those who wanted Saddam Hussein toppled?