By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Nina Davenport
Country: united_states
Year: 2008
Running time: 95
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0984213/
Michael says: “When Liev Schreiber saw an MTV profile shortly after the fall of Baghdad about Muthana, a young Iraqi who yearned to be a filmmaker, he was touched by the challenges the charismatic young man faced. Schreiber was about to start shooting EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, so he and his producer arranged for Muthana to join them in Prague, and work as a production assistant, giving him an opportunity to break into the business. Instead, the young man repeatedly squanders his opportunities, and uses his circumstance and his charisma to ingratiate himself with people who can help him to keep from having to return home.
“It’s a curious film that engenders strong emotional reactions, but upon reflection becomes increasingly complicated. While it’s easy to see Muthana as an opportunistic young man who won’t put in the effort needed to do what he wants to do, it’s just as easy to see the filmmakers, including director Nina Davenport, as being just as opportunistic, exploiting this young man in order to make a successful film. The film is pretty interesting as it explores this apparent dichotomy, but also as it explores Muthana’s role in the making of a couple of films. It’s a neat behind-the-scenes look at some aspects of filmmaking we usually don’t get to see. 4 cats”