JEDDAH: A documentary on the man who sheltered former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and a Punjabi feature film on a notorious honour killing incident in Indian Punjab on the second day of the Red Sea International Film Festival show how real life impacts cinema.
Before, during and after the attack of the US army on Iraq in 2003 on the pretext of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), a one-dimensional picture of Saddam Hussein appeared led by western media while the documentary directed by Kurdish/Norwegian filmmaker Halkawt Mustafa paints another picture of him.
The documentary unfolds a riveting tale resembling a feature film. Narrated by Alaa Namiq, a humble farmer near Tikrit, the story chronicles how he sheltered Saddam for 235 days without contemplating the $25 million reward. Two men, Saddam and Alaa, from opposite ends of pre-invasion Iraq, share the spotlight. Alaa, the unsung hero, concealed the “president” not just from his family but also from the mightiest army in a unipolar world, dismissing any thought of the US bounty. He asserts he would choose Saddam over the US again.
The first question that occurs to mind is that why he sheltered the ‘most wanted man’ despite all dangers, especially when Saddam arrives at his home uninvited with just three guards. He did not know politics and had no affiliations as such.
The answer lies in the Iraqi tradition that a guest is never asked for how long he would stay. He serves as Saddam’s cook, barber, servant, friend and later as a son after Saddam’s two sons are killed. After Saddam was captured, Alaa remained incarcerated for months in the infamous Abu Gharaib prison, until pictures scandal involving US soldiers and inhuman treatment of prisoners surfaced and the prison had to be shut.
“I wanted to give Alaa the chance to tell the story from the Arabic perspective, because almost everything we have seen about the Iraqi invasion has been told from the Western perspective. This is why I decided, almost from the beginning, to let him tell the story in exactly the way he wanted,” says Halkawt about his documentary. The director has done some hard work on researching the material on the media and interspersed his narrative with the real footage as the story progresses.
Saddam emerges as an unwavering figure in the documentary, leading the resistance forces from his hideout, with Alaa acting as his messenger. He rejects surrender to the US forces, continuing the fight until his capture, defying the common perception of his passivity. Even after the loss of his two sons, he refuses to concede defeat, dismissing a general’s offer of truce and return to power through accepting the US invasion, as per Alaa’s account. The film portrays the US army negatively, depicting them as villains, invaders, and oppressors.
It’s also pleasantly surprising that this documentary on Saddam has premiered in Saudi Arabia, given the kind of relationships the country had with Saddam Hussein after the Gulf war, perhaps a real sign of the opening up of society.
Honour killing
Dear Jassi, a Punjabi-language film, narrates the true story of Canadian national Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, a woman kabaddi player from her mother’s native village in East Punjab, and Sukhwinder Singh Sidhu (Mithu), a rickshaw driver. Despite the predictable ending in honour killing cases, the director skilfully builds tension until the last moment. The first half, enriched by the director’s art, maintains a balance of humour in this serious subject.
Yugam Sood’s nuanced portrayal of Mithu and Pavia Sidhu’s natural acting as Jassi stand out, eschewing Bollywood and Punjabi cinema clichés. The depiction of Punjab’s rural culture adds depth to the drama, exploring the challenges faced by lovers in a restrictive society. The film’s violent denouement, featuring scenes of violence, rape, and murder, is tempered by the return of Punjabi folk singers and Bulleh Shah’s poetry. Dear Jassi merits viewing in Pakistan’s Punjab, where honour killing issues resonate more among the expatriate community than among non-resident Indians (NRIs).
Dear Jassi by Tarsem Singh is the only Punjabi movie that’s part of the festival and it takes on one of the serious problems that both parts of Punjab share, besides the issue of air pollution and smog. It won a prize at the Toronto International Film Festival this year.
Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2023