Letters from Baghdad

When I saw the DVD for "Letter from Baghdad" on Netflix, I initially dismissed it, as I had little interest in hearing about letters from soldiers during the recent war. However, despite the title, the show from "American Experience" is NOT about the recent Iraq War but but about a most unusual woman, Gertrude Bell, and her love of the Middle East (not just Iraq)...in the early 20th century! So, be careful...this film might not be what you're expecting.

The show is about the life of Gertrude Bell, a most unusual woman who was apart from her time. While most women of her class dreamed of a successful marriage and family, Gertrude went to Oxford and excelled there. And, after graduation, moved to the Middle East and lived there most of the rest of her life. Why this is important is that during WWI, the British knew very little about these people...and Gertrude already had befriended many of the desert chieftans and their people. Her knowledge and respect for them was instrumental during the war...and following it, at least for a time it was respected.

This is an interesting show and was made available because of the saved correspondences from Gertrude. And, like you'd expect with a PBS documentary, it's extremely well made with some top talent to sub for the voices of these long deceased people. My only quibble is that the show seemed to fall flat when it came to actually making anything of Bell's life and work...what was the lasting impact, what were the mistakes and what were the benefits of her life? Well, that is something the film really didn't do well. Interesting...but a bit short in this regard.

So they took letters that Bell wrote and inserts from her journals and had Swinton narrate over footage from the Ottoman Empire or reenactments. Either would most likely be correct thanks to the advancements of cinematic technology of today. Adding to this are dramatization interviews with actors playing people that Bell knew in her time and could tell us about her.

Think I like this better than Queen of the Desert which stared Nicole Kidman. Both movies are important to tell the story of this important woman but of course, Letters to Baghdad portrayed a real Gertrude Bell. Queen of the Desert portrayed her as being on this pedi stool (Does not help that she's being played by a hot movie star), but I like how Letters to Baghdad more so pointed out the flaws, flaws that I think help let us know the type of woman it takes to do what Bell did.

Every insightful.

http://cinemagardens.com

And a great documentary about her. The period photos and movies are astonishing and well presented. Nicole Kidman played her. But this is authentic. Tilda Swinton's narration as Gertrude Bell Is perfect.

Well I see Gertrude Bell one of the main persons who's responsible for all the violence in the Middle East. So I don't like G.B. presented as if she was worried about the people in these regions.... I agree with Subxerogravity that wrote;

So they took letters that Bell wrote and inserts from her journals and had Swinton narrate over footage from the Ottoman Empire or reenactments. Either would most likely be correct thanks to the advancements of cinematic technology of today. Adding to this are dramatization interviews with actors playing people that Bell knew in her time and could tell us about her.

Think I like this better than Queen of the Desert which stared Nicole Kidman. Both movies are important to tell the story of this important woman but of course, Letters to Baghdad portrayed a real Gertrude Bell. Queen of the Desert portrayed her as being on this Pei stool (Does not help that she's being played by a hot movie star), but I like how Letters to Baghdad more so pointed out the flaws, flaws that I think help let us know the type of woman it takes to do what Bell did.

... and it is the only reason I knock even one star off, because for what it is, this is a perfect documentary.

Based on the title, I assumed it was going to be about something relatively recent, such as letters from soldiers in Iraq over the last two decades. To my surprise it was a more distant history lesson going back over 100 years.

It was presented ala Ken Burns style with old photos of the period accompanied by voice actors reading the words of various historical figures, centering on the journal of a young, affluent, well educated, and quite atypically adventurous, late Victorian era British lass, Gertrude Bell, who began traveling in the middle east at a young age, learned Arabic, fell in-love with the various Arab cultures, and encountered a host of notable personages including T.E. Lawrence himself. Evidently her forward thinking attitude and influence endeared her to many of the local tribes while stirring up distrust in the old Ottoman Empire, who considered her a British spy.

Because of her accumulated vast Middle East knowledge, as WW1 approached, she (not unlike T.E.) was eventually put to work in the British Foreign Affairs Office, but, because she was a woman, most of the places to which she was assigned undervalued her and didn't quite know how to best employ her talents. She lost the love of her life during the failed effort at Gallipoli in 1915. His loss Left her devoted to the one thing that they had shared and mutually loved, the Middle East. Like Lawrence, she was an early advocate for an independent Arab State, and both during and after WW1, her empathetic understanding of the various ethnic and religious cultures including Arab and Jewish populations made her a trusted mediator among many of the indigenous people and a growing necessity for the British Empire.

The British had realized early on that transitioning from coal to oil would be essential to fuel their merchant fleets and the navy providing security for their massive empire, and that oil was plentiful in the middle east. So, when the allied powers gained post war control in the region, they promptly began carving up the area to best suit their purposes. The European goal was the establishment of loyal vassal kingdoms who would allow perpetual access to their most highly valued and as yet under exploited commodity, oil. Along with creating Saudi Arabia and a host of smaller Arab states, they also gave birth to Iraq. So Ms. Bell, with the best of intentions, was still used by all parties involved. Thus, in this historical retrospective, she can rightfully be called an unintentional founder of the modern Middle East, with all of its problems.

Highly recommended as a documentary on a key piece of Mideast history that is not known very well.