#son of babylon

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  Son of Babylon (2009) أبـن بـابل

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Syn Babilonu _ Son of babylon _ Babilin Oğlu (2009)

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just watched this. tears. tears everywhere.

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Raindance Closing Night Gala ~ Son of Babylon

As another festival year reached it’s conclusion I settled in my seat with some complimentary popcorn and juice to watch the amazing film Son of Babylon. I didn’t know quite what I was in store for but certainly appreciated every moment of this wonderful, heart-wrenching and beautiful film that blurs the boundaries of fiction and reality and opens a gateway into the largely unremarked tragedy of the Iraqui nation and the legacy left to it’s people there. The story, set shortly after the end of Sadam Hussain’s regime, follows a young boy who takes an epic journey from the Kurdish north with his grandmother as they seek out his missing father. Along the way each character they meet deepens the tale of a country and population scarred by a brutal regime and struggling to find meaning and a way forward from the atrocity of their world.

Beautifully directed by Mohamed Al Daradji, the performances he and his team coaxed forth were incredible, the cinematography was both grounding and subtly beautiful and the film felt very real and immediate. A positive and energetic production team overcame all sorts of issues to film in Iraq and this adds a sense both of reality and beauty and has helped show the talent and diversity available in the country for filmmaking. I hope, in time, we shall see a lot more come out of this nation. I’ve seen a lot of Iraq based film stories, but nothing like this. Every moment of the film is evocative and moving and as we follow the dust from ignorance to acknowledgment to understanding I became more and more drawn in as the story became larger than it’s characters and imposed itself on me as a very real tragedy that has happened in my world not just some other people in some other country. Indeed in attempting to factualise their figures the filmmakers discovered that the official records of those executed held in all the world organizations differ greatly and could be vastly more than what has been documented meaning that the aftermath of Sadam Hussain’s regime could be the biggest act of human genocide since the Holocaust. The filmmakers continue to struggle to raise awareness and gain acknowledgement of these deaths as genocide by the international community so that the healing process surrounding the missing may begin in Iraq. Find out more and sign their petition here.

One of the most moving and uplifting points of the evening was the Q&A afterwards where the positive impact of this film was clearly seen in bringing these matters to light with such a fantastic piece of filmmaking. The crew members so moved by the first viewing of the film found it hard to express their feelings about the film’s portrayals of events that have touched every family from or with ties to Iraq. One was unable to speak about his experience of viewing the film, too soon to process the emotions raised. And yet there was a sense of reconciliation through the filmmaking process, lead actress Shazada Hussain was the only woman present at Sadam Hussain’s trial as her own husband has beem missing for over 20 years and she still has no idea of what may have happened to him. I daresay that the tears she sheds in the final mass grave scenes were not entirely acted. A very brave artistic team and a very brave film with a courageous campaign to bring change to the aftermath of a dark time.

Son of Babylon has been selected to represent Iraq for Oscar consideration and I wish it every success. It’s a well made, touching and very deserving film even aside from it’s humanitarian aspects.

The afterparty shook off any sadness as we all signed the petition and stepped forward to celebrate this and all the indie-est films from around the world both features and shorts with a free drink or two and a mingle with all the filmmakers. Here’s to the best festival in London if not Britain and roll on next year and the next bunch of the indie-est films from around the planet.. go get yourselves out and make some to submit!

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This is the last feature film I produced at Human Film. 

SYNOPSIS

Northern Iraq, 2003. Two weeks after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Ahmed, a 12-year-old boy begrudgingly follows in the shadow of his grandmother.

On hearing news that prisoners of war have been found alive in the South, she is determined to discover the fate of her missing son, Ahmed’s father, who never returned from the Gulf war.

From the mountains of Kurdistan to the sands of Babylon, they hitch rides from strangers and cross paths with fellow pilgrims, on all too similar journeys. Struggling to understand his grandmother’s search, Ahmed follows in the forgotten footsteps of a father he never knew.

This journey will lead the boy to come of age.

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Baran (dež)

Nekoč je živel kralj, ki se je zaljubil v dekle. Poročila sta se, ona pa je postala kraljica. Ker se je naveličala živeti v puščavi, ji je on lajšal bolečino s tem, da je zgradil viseče vrtove. Vse zaradi ljubezni in sočutja. Ljubezni pa ne čuti le kralj. Za trenutek zamenjajmo partnersko ljubezen za starševsko ljubezen. Ljubezen čuti tudi mati, ki išče svojega izginulega sina. A ne med lepoto visečih vrtov, temveč med zaledenelo krvjo masovnih grobišč. O, žalost, ki ubijaš, žalost. Ni pomembno, kakšno kožo nosiš na obrazu. Ni pomembni, če si Arabec, Indijanec, Azijec, belec, Bušman ali modre krvi. Žalost ne pozna meja, tako kot nima lastnika. To je središče prelepega, a skrajno žalobnega iraškega filma Son of Babylon (letnica 2009, režija Mohamed Al Daradji). Filma ceste, ki se skriva za kurdskimi barvami. Filma, ki me spomni na mojega izgubljenega kurdskega prijatelja iz otroštva – Rebwara. Kaj počneš? Živiš srečno in spokojno? Zakaj si šel na sever Iraka brez pozdrava in slovesa? Vem le, da živiš v mestu Arbil z novo družino in drugačnim življenjem. Bog s teboj. Živi v miru. A svojega prijatelja ne omenjam kar tja v tri dni. Njegovo ime namreč v kurdskem jeziku pomeni popotnik. Več kot primerno za film, ki mu sledim. Vnuk in babica (kako nenavadno – arabski filmi namreč večno prikazujejo predvsem vnuke v objemu dedkov. Brez klišejev prosim!) se namreč iz Kurdistana odpravita na dolgo pot po Iraku v iskanju sina oziroma očeta. Mati njegovo obrazno mimiko in besede še vedno nosi v srcu, otrok pa svojega očeta še nikoli ni uzrl. Pozna ga le iz bolečih pripovedi in legend, ki jih snuje družina. Zalivska vojna je že v polnem teku, nekoč prelepa dežela s starodavno tradicijo pa leži v ruševinah. Glej ženske, ki se kot črne vrane spuščajo nad grobišča in jočejo. Glej otroke, ki zbirajo kosti in ječijo. Kot bi rekel Lorca – zeleno, ki te ljubim zeleno. Mladost, ki se spreminja v barvo islama. Mladost, ki se spreminja v barvo prekritih krst. Koliko ljudi je ostalo zakopanih v zemlji, pa še danes ne vedo njihovih imen. Identitete skrite v puščavskem pesku. Puščava kot največji grob človeštva. Ne bom se spuščal v vprašanja okupacije, niti ne bom porekel kakšne besede na račun tiranije. Ne, raje bom sledil žalostnim zgodbam posameznikov, ki trpijo za celoten narod. Narod zatirancev, ne narod teroristov. Narod pozabljenih in izgubljenih imen zapisanih na obronkih babilonskega stolpa.

Redko se zgodi, da bi se v mojih mislih znašel kakšen sirijski film. Ne le, da jih je težko izslediti, še vedno veljajo za nekaj eksotičnega. Odmaknjenega in iztrganega iz zahodnjaške miselnosti. Zatorej mi preostane le eno – če ga srečaš, ga varuj kot dragulj z Nila. In ga tudi bom, ko beseda nanese na izdelek Nights of the Jackal (letnica 1988, režija Abdellatif Abdelhamid). Naj se film začne v primežu drame s kančkom komičnosti, a vedno bo končal v trpki tragediji. Temu sem priča tudi ob pričujočem kosu celuloida, ki v ospredje postavi družino v ruralnem okolju. Ne le, da je okolica neizprosna in ne ponuja lahkega življenja, tudi glava družine, nestrpni oče, nikomur ne olajša vsakdana. Kot da bi izražal jezo skozi lastno slabost in nesamozavestnost, saj se stari pes ne more naučiti novih trikov. Bolj ko se staraš, manjša je možnost, da se boš naučil nekaj novega in postal fleksibilen v nenehno spreminjajočem se svetu. Ne smem pozabiti, da se film dogaja konec 60-ih let (če sem natančen, leta 1967), ko je Sirija stopila v vojno z Izraelom in izgubila del svojega ozemlja. To je ozadje filma, ki se ljudi v majhni vasici sicer ne dotakne neposredno, a ostane v podzavesti vse do konca. Ko se bo družine dejansko dotaknila, bo že vse prepozno. Ko bo očetu vzela sina, se bo njegov svet dokončno porušil v nešteto črepinj. Kdor deluje s trdo roko in neizprosno besedo, naj ne pričakuje usmiljenja, bi se lahko glasil pregovor. Že vse pod začetka filma namreč šakali, ki tulijo v noč in kratijo spanec, napovedujejo sestop mitološke prikazni. Pater familias je lahko tiran, a je hkrati žrtev lastne ambicije. Tla pod nogami se mu zatresejo že takrat, ko v tujo družino poroči svojo najstarejšo hčer. Domine pa padajo. Izgubo sina sem že omenil, lahko pa dodam, da se na kriva pota brez povratka poda tudi najstarejši sin, druga hčer pa zanosi in pobegne s svojim ljubimcem. Da bo mera polna, ga zapusti še žena, ki neutolažljivo hodi po tanki liniji med razumom in norostjo. Konec je simboličen. Vaščan se umaže s krvjo svoje ljubezni, naš staroselec pa v streli in gromu ne more odgnati šakalov, ki se pripravljajo na zakol. Mar res vsak na koncu ostane sam ali pa smo se navadili prilagajati razmeram ter zgradili trdnejši slonokoščeni stolp? Kdo ve, če jutri vojna vihra ne ujame tudi nas. Mene je že.

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SON OF BABYLON - FILMING ON LOCATION IN IRAQ

For many of you that have seen or heard of SON OF BABYLON, this blog may seem a little late, however I have never shared the real experiences we went through to make this film until now.

SON OF BABYLON takes place in Northern Iraq, 2003. Two weeks after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Ahmed, a 12-year-old boy begrudgingly follows in the shadow of his grandmother.

On hearing news that prisoners of war have been found alive in the South, she is determined to discover the fate of her missing son, Ahmed’s father, who never returned from the Gulf war.

From the mountains of Kurdistan to the sands of Babylon, they hitch rides from strangers and cross paths with fellow pilgrims, on all too similar journeys. Struggling to understand his grandmother’s search, Ahmed follows in the forgotten footsteps of a father he never knew.

SON OF BABYLON was finished in October 2009 where it premiered at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival to a packed audience, however the films conception though began three years prior previous at the Human Film's offices in Leeds, UK.

After a long two years of screenplay development we managed to gain the support of the Sundance Institute, the UK Film Council and the French CNC that allowed us to take the film into production. 

One of the main issues we'd had during our previous productions in Iraq was having any UK or European crew in Iraq was just too dangerous. However in October 2008 I found myself flying out to Sulimaniyah in Northern Iraq with British Special Effects Makeup Artist John Parnham carrying £500,000 worth of equipment, that included the Arri II 35mm camera along with all its lenses. Landing in Arbil in the middle of the night, after a stressful overnight transfer in Istanbul, we were in Iraq, with all our equipment in tack ready to begin shooting.  

The productions base during its time in the north of Iraq was just near the small mountain village of Darbandikan in a local honeymoon resort that over looked a dam that every morning would be opened to generate power for the area. 

Sometimes living in Europe you really don't understand how little things like broadband make a massive difference in how fast you are able to work. At our production base we had one dialup pay as you go modem. Everyday would involve a trip to the phone card shop no matter how many we stocked up on. Simple things like sending an updated schedule to the UK producers could take an hour of your time, but it was something that we just had to adjust ourselves to and work around the resources we had to hand. 

During the pre-production, we'd had a car trailer built in Baghdad, this was so that we could tow the main action vehicle and shoot the scene where we saw dialogue with the actors and so the actors could focus on their lines as oppose to driving the tow-truck. Unfortunately the first time we put the truck action vehicle onto the trailer the axel broke. This caused us an initial headache but we had solutions to shoot around this. Our solution was to shoot the action vehicle from the camera truck and keep both vehicles driving at a similar speed. Not the most ideal way of shooting these kind of scenes but it was the best solution we had available. This would require the character Mahmood to actually drive the action truck while he was performing. When the director Mohamed Al-Daradji has originally cast Kakasala who plays the character Mahmood, he had told Mohamed he could drive. Three days before shooting this turned out not quiet truth as the actor could not drive a stick shift. All attempts to teach him had failed and so we were left with a broken trailer and an actor who couldn't drive. One thing you learn when your in Iraq, is that in Iraq nothing is impossible and there is always a solution. Through some good hiding and camera position we managed to put our stunt driver in the car lying down on his side working the gears and the peddles while the actor just had to stir the truck in the right direction. 

When began production, the UK crew were only going to be able to stay with the production while we were shooting in the North. Whenever we went through a check point whoever was in charge of the vehicle we were traveling in would tell them that myself and John were French and as they never asked to check our passports it never brought much attention to us. The strange thing and maybe this was my naivety at the time, but I felt safe wherever I was. That might have been down to the great Iraqi crew who really protected us, but there were times when I had to go into the town with just one of the other Iraqi crew members. I would go to shops and stalls by myself and talk with the locals and get things organised for the production. The people in Darbandikan were really friendly and helpful and didn't make me feel like a foreigner, which was a really nice feeling. 

There was only one shooting day while I was in Iraq that we had an armed escort in the vans with us from the local police. We had gone the south to shoot some of the scenes as the characters make their way down toward Baghdad. We arrived at the location, which was situated next to a main road check point that housed 15 armed officers. Mohamed came up as we got out of the vans, pulled me to one side and told me that we were 30 mins away from the Al-Qaider strong hold in Iraq and that I and John had to keep a low profile and stay close to the armed officers. This was the only point at which I felt nervous however once the production began getting set up and we got on with the days shooting thoughts of kidnap or trouble were soon forgotten. 

After the days shoot we would all go back to the hotel and eat dinner outside in the gardens, on long banqueting tables. Dinner would always be followed by a sing song or the crew reciting poetry. My arabic wasn't advanced by a long way and my Kurdish was none existent but the mood and feeling these times gave us at the end of the day made any troubles or problems of the shooting go to the back of our minds. 

One of the interesting experiences I had while I was in Iraq was the way in which John and a partly myself used to communicate with the Iraqi crew members. Many of the Iraqi crew understood a little English or various levels and I understood a little Arabic. For the most part our translators were not always there when you need, so we found ourselves communicating in big physical gestures. A little bit like our own version of sign language with my basic use of the arabic I knew and the Iraqi crew the little bit of English they knew. For the most part this worked without fail and although some detail was always lost the main part of what we wanted to communicate was always understood. However on many occasions when I would see John at the end of the day and we would begin chatting about how everything had gone, we would forget that we could actually speak English and would continue making large physical gestures with our hands and facial expressions until we realised... what are we doing?? It was an interesting experience but one that I will never forget. 

At the end of October I returned back to the UK as the production went south to Baghdad. I'd had many arguments with Mohamed and Atia the Iraqi producer trying to convince them that I should go down to the south. Again naivety kicking in from my side, as it was shown three weeks later. After the production had finished shooting at the Baghdad coach station where we'd used 250 extras, a week later that coach station in the very spot we had shot some of the key scenes of the film, was subjected to a suicide attack where 200 people were hurt or killed. 

This concludes my stories from Iraq, for those of you who haven't seen SON OF BABYLON you can buy it on DVD from Amazon, HMV, and iTunes in the UK. 

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Later this week I'll be talking about the making of SON OF BABYLON, the difficulties shooting in Iraq and the truth behind the story... Stay Tuned