Kilomètre zéro

"If the starting point is zero the only way to move is forward", said director Hiner Saleems in an interview. His movie "Kilomètre zero" is made out of this indestructible optimism in the middle of horror.

In a small town in the North of Iraq during the times of the "First Golf War" the Kurd Ako (Nazmî Kirik) is recruited by force to fight against Iran, while Saddam Hussein is already preparing his extermination campaign against the Kurdish minority. After some time at the front he gets the order to escort a killed soldier to his family — his chance to escape the war. Together with an Arab driver who treats him only with contempt he takes of for an arduous journey through Iraq.

With charm Hiner Saleem masters all the patterns that makes a movie on dictatorship and suppression attractive for the festivals. There is the stage-like minimalism in plot and equipment, the impressive photographic production and the excellent choice of music. With so much ability the spectator excuses generously that the plot is getting out of hand in the end. The almost absurd ease is a clear post against melodramatic transfiguration of war à la Hollywood. An important reminder that suffering never can be completely seized by a movie.

But what makes this movie really special is something else. It's the small glimpses between the lines of the film-text. Truly eerie moments in which the movie is dropping all playfulness in front of a scenery of constant murder and terror. There is just nothing like this movie. Over 10 years virtually no movie was produced in the nation of Iraq. This is a piece of movie history.

Trivia: The constant presence of a huge statue of Ex-dictator Saddam Hussein on the set was problematic. The sculptor ordered to make this "piece of art" was once even thrown into prison before the filmmakers could clarify the situation.

This movie is the wet dream of any ex soviet film maker, director, producer, script writer, whatever. And not just ex soviet, any Eastern European too. The irony, the depressive scenes, the ugly irony, the pointless violence, simply all of it would feature proudly in any of the tens (or hundreds?) of crap features about how the stalinists came and pushed that particular proud savage territory from organic apple makers to polluted bankrupt industry nobody seems to need.

Sadly this is not enough. The trailers that came as a bonus with the DVD are far better than the whole film. There is a simplicity and an irony that simply can't be found in the whole hour and a half. The camera is nice. The idea is even better. And everything seems to stop there. The feature is too long for the story. And it has timing problems -- for example a man who died after the main characters leave the front is mysteriously already waiting somewhere near the end.

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In the late 80's, in the small village of Amedi, the Kurd electrician Ako (Nazmî Kirik) is forced to leave his family and join the Iraqi army to fight in Basra against Iran. When he is assigned to escort the coffin of a deceased soldier to his family, the crosses the country with an Arab driver and plots a scheme to desert the army and bring his wife and son to Paris.

"Kilomètre Zero" is a film of the Kurdish director Hiner Saleem with a black humorous propaganda against Saddam Hussein's regime but unfortunately with bad taste. I did not see the point of the cow defecating in front of the camera, or the offense against the flag of Iraq since Ako's attitude is neither dramatic nor funny and the flags of all countries should be respected. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Quilômetro Zero" ("Zero Kilometer")