I’ve just finished watching Nina’s Doc. I am, or should I say “was” an Iraqi myself—been there down that sort of thing—and as such, I could see and feel, subjectively, the film-maker’s point of view and the young Iraqi’s “frustration”. If we skip bias or sentimental judgments projected at one party or the other, then and only then we will comprehend each side’s “condition” beyond any irrelevance or shallow perceptions. The storyline is simple; an adventurous filmmaker and “crew” stumble upon an ambitious young Iraqi with dreams and fire in his belly, who (like thousands of youngsters his age in war ravaged lands around the world) is egger to get out. Except, unlike the many thousands of misfortunate and forgotten youngsters, and because of his ability to speak English, he finds himself the center of attention among a bunch of goodwill-hunting Americans who sympathies genuinely with his case, more so, augmenting (either naively or unintentionally) his self-confidence and believe that he has “talent” and could—given a chance—make it to stardom! Unfortunately, in the euphoria of that attention, our young man becomes “arrogant” and abruptly starts to feel “typically” too big for his own shoes. I do feel for him, yes, he is from a war ravaged background, yes he is scarred confused and beaten, and yes he deserves our entire attention and sympathy, but so does millions like him, yet unlike them he was offered a little hope, a chance no matter how small many would’ve died for. Also unfortunately, the illusion of “invincibility” is deep in the Iraqi psyche and often, old age “arrogance and hardheadedness” is disguised by a “sense of honor and dignity” while humbleness and gratitude become a sign of weakness.
Apparently, no one among the many who has watched the Documentary and placed their comments, reflected for a second on the African man’s (his roommate) short comment? The answer, the conclusions were all there in his brief and humble expression. On the other hand, and seeing that Nina Davenport has Edited the film herself, and we ( the public ) know little about “how all was wrapped up”, there is one cardinal question here; does ‘Muthana’ knows that this Documentary has been viewed and Broadcast worldwide? I strongly think that (unless he signed a—prenuptial—so to speak, contract or agreement) Nina Davenport has a moral obligation to have his consent when showing the documentary, or send him whatever future gains (If any) minus what she spent on him. By the by, that also raise another question; did Nina at any stage got “emotionally” involved with him, because knowing men of the region, his behavior with Davenport surly suggested that, despite knowing the fact that the poor bugger was young inexperienced and all happened to him so fast?

interesting documentary. I would tend to agree with the comments from Serwan. Unless I am mistaken, the impression i had from the doc is that Muthana did not have a proactive behaviour to use this lifetime opportunity that he had been given. I didn’t have the impression that he was very keen on film making. He looked like he was chilling out on the shooting set, being nice and friendly to everyone. That’s all. When being given the opportunity to do some editing work, he went out clubbing instead, therefore compromising the quality of his work. Then, only a few days before his visa expires, he starts worrying about his future. If he had shown a real interest in the job, maybe he would have gained more support. Instead, he expected everything to be given to him (as he said, before the war, he was from a comfortable social background and that says it all…). Off course, he comes from a country where tragic events are taking place. So, he deserves sympathy. I am not too sure about his current whereabouts, but 2 people are to blame here: Muthana himself for not having wisely used this opportunity, and MTV for giving fake hopes to this poor Iraki boy.