Q&A Laura Poitras SKINNYFEST3

Absolutely it's worse now than when I was filming. As long as the US is there the violence will continue.

Feature by Will White | 14 Aug 2006
My Country, My Country has been described as the finest film to come out of the crisis in Iraq. Its creator, Laura Poitras, worked alone in Iraq for 9 months darting between the Green Zone and the house of Dr Riyadh, the GP and politician around whom the film revolves.

Where is Dr Riyadh now?
Dr Riyadh's situation is very bleak. His family have fled to Syria and they want him to follow them.

What sort of film were you trying to make?
I always thought the film would be a tragedy. Dr Riyadh was trying to do the right thing in circumstances where everything is going to be doomed. I knew that because the American project is so flawed, ultimately it would be kind of tragic. The important thing is to understand this tragedy through the perspective of ordinary people

How did you get such extraordinary access to the American forces?
I was working alone – I was the crew. So I think they thought of it as a home movie. At other times I didn't have permission – I just filmed and they wouldn't stop me; working alone, and being a woman, they didn't want to be rude. I was really surprised about how transparent they were willing to be but they knew the risk I was taking and they respected what I was trying to do.

What were the conditions like for you?
It was 130?, people are trying to kill you and things blew-up a lot. My translator had had 20 friends killed. But I very rarely felt under threat from Iraqis. I felt most scared when approaching a US checkpoint - which I did most days. The troops there are so twitchy. Lots of times I had guns pointing at me and people screaming.

Is the situation worse now than when you were shooting the film?
Absolutely it's worse now than when I was filming. As long as the US is there the violence will continue. It's a mistake to look at it as ethnic strife – because everything is premised on the fact that the US is still in Iraq. As long as we are there, the situation can't improve.

How do you feel about the elections of 2005?
Despite the fact that people were promised death the Iraqi people went out to vote and their turnout was still higher than in the elections here. Who's teaching who about democracy?