Page - 150 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 02/02

150 | Marie-Therese Mäder www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/2, 149–154 the late 1970s. The narrative considers religion on two levels: one focuses on Iraqi history in general and serves as the context for Jamal Aldin family history, which represents the second level. Religion is introduced for the first time, after almost half an hour, with the intertitle “Sectarianism”. Souhair, the filmmaker’s half-sister, tells that between 2003 and 2007, after the downfall of Saddham Hussein’s regime, Shiite and Sunni splinter groups were fighting each other, and the government was unable to take control of the situation. Later in the film, af- ter two hours, radicalized Islam is discussed in the context of Saddam Hussein’s takeover. The intertitle “Religion” with a mosque in the background announces the topic. In the next sequence the voice-over explains how Saddam Hussein exploited religion: “During his war against Iran, Saddam started to build more and more mosques. Before that the dictator showed no interest in religion, but now he discovered it for his own political purposes. And he started to cut women’s rights and to spy on his people” 2 (figs. 1 and 2). In the interview that follows, Samira, the director’s aunt, recounts how the dic- tatorship succeeded and how it influenced her life. Photographs depicting ter- ror, torture, and military parades are inserted. At the end of the film, Samira em- phasizes that she will never go back to Iraq: “Now from what I see and hear, I would never go back. The situation is unbelievable. We’ve gone back 500 years! You were there: Religious fanatics! All the women in Abayas and underneath a headscarf, too! And the arms covered to here… I don’t know how the women can bear the heat. [laughs] I don’t know how they do it” (fig. 3). After this statement, Samir’s aunt is shown walking down a street in Auckland, New Zealand, wearing a pink sweatshirt, before the interview resumes: “Now in 2 The English translation of the Arabic original follows the subtitles. Fig. 1: Iraqi Odyssey (Samir, IQ/CH/DE/ AE, 2015), 2:03:12.