March 2007
"'Situation' Normal . . . "
By Ryan Hunter

The Situation is a fictional account of one reporter’s hunt for truth in present day Iraq. Part thriller, part love triangle, all anti-war, the film, directed by Philip Haas, weaves together several stories in its depiction of the situation caused by the war. The central focus is on Anna (Connie Nielsen), an American journalist trying to uncover the truth about an innocent teenager’s death at the hands of American troops in Samarra. While this premise serves to advance the plot, the real stories are found in the lives of the Iraqis with whom she comes in contact during her search.

For example, Anna’s photographer, Zaid (Mido Hamada), is a Christian whose communist parents were killed by Saddam, and her driver is the son of an ex-Baathist diplomat/informant. Even more interesting are the simpler characters like the cab driver who is reluctant to give Zaid a ride because his shoes look American. The film’s strength is in the Iraqi perspective (validated during the Q&A after the screening) that it provides.

Unfortunately, most of the American characters are one-dimensional and much of the English dialogue is painfully forced, distracting from the all too serious situation that the film portrays. Shots of the Green Zone swimming pools and Chinese restaurant illustrate some of the absurdities of the war, but then irony gives way to slapstick as shots with oversized photographs of President Bush fill the frame.

Luckily, these moments do not comprise the bulk of the movie. The many scenes of Iraqi interaction, all shot in Arabic, give the film depth and make it more than a simple political cartoon depicting a smiling George Bush making a mess in Iraq.