In this comprehensive and compelling personal document, filmmaker Samir retraces his family history, focusing on the past in Iraq and the subsequent migration and diaspora that scattered his family over places such as Moscow, Auckland, Switzerland, London and the United States. Despite the thousands of miles dividing them, there is still a bond between the far-flung relatives (part of the approximately four million Iraqis who have left the country), some of whom Samir visits for his film. One moment, this 150-minute account tends towards a Greek epic, with its references to the Odyssey as a metaphor of Iraq, the next time more towards leafing through an intimate family album: the combination of fascinating archive footage, family photographs and interviews makes for an eloquent, balanced and in-depth exposé offering different perspectives on the complex social-political history of Iraq, a country torn by war, dictatorship and foreign occupation, but where hope still is not lost.
