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Urban Sights: Urban History and Visual Culture

Iraq's First Public Relations Picture

The state of Iraq has long been identified by first British and later Iraqi government rhetoric as the modern incarnation of the ‘cradle of civilization,’ also referred to as Mesopotamia. The Greek origins of the name for this ancient region literally translate to the “land between rivers”: the Tigris and Euphrates. Iraq’s rivers feature centrally in representations of the country and its capital, as the life-giving natural resource that supported the beginnings of human civilization.

IPC’s project to construct the world’s largest pipeline in 1951 from Kirkuk to the Mediterranean port at Banais, Syria, borrowed from this popular imaginary of ancient Mesopotamia to create its particular imaginary of modern Iraq. IPC named its Kirkuk-Banais pipeline the "Third River” as a symbolic and literal reference to the controlled flow of “natural wealth” that would bring modern civilization back to the cradle of civilization. The imaginary of Iraq’s man-made river of oil circulated widely in company publications, but was most dramatically and successfully captured in The Third River (1952), IPC’s first documentary.

The Third River was the earliest film about modern Iraq to be made for and circulated to audiences in Britain and the Middle East. Sponsored by the British-controlled Iraq Petroleum Company, produced by Film Centre in London, shot on-location in Iraq and Syria, and translated into both English and Arabic versions, this film signified a new approach in the long orientalist history of representing Baghdad. For the first time in cinematic history, the land, people, and places of Iraq figured as a primary subject of a film narrative rather than serving merely as an exotic backdrop.

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“A Truly National Enterprise”
In the cinemas of Iraq the reception of the film has since been most enthusiastic. In the making of the film the Unit was greatly helped by the work of Iraqi writers, commentators and musicians. The use of national music, specially arranged for the films and played on the traditional Arab instruments, is a feature of the “Beladuna” series and is appreciated by all audiences in Iraq. The Unit's aim is to do as much of the making of these films as possible in Iraq, so that their production can become a truly national enterprise.
-- Iraq Petroleum Magazine, 1953
IPC’s explicit effort to present its film unit and cine-magazine as a “truly” Iraqi endeavor and product points to its desire to shape the national discourse on oil. Undoubtedly, any success in this regard was related to the cooperative nature of the company’s relationship to the Hashemite regime. IPC’s public relations office explicitly stated the assumption that the Iraqi government looked to the company “to do a job of general publicity that, for various reasons, they were unable to do themselves.” This included promoting Iraq’s development projects in a positive light among its citizens and promoting the country’s history and modern identity in Europe. Drawing on local talent was an important tactic that the public relations executives in London hoped would foster success in connecting with local audiences. The earliest example of this transpired in 1952 when the British director Michael Clarke was sent to Baghdad for four months to begin production on a “dramatic” script treatment prepared by Stuart Legg in London for a film about the construction of a massive pipeline between Kirkuk, Iraq and Banias, Syria. After conducting some research among engineers in Tripoli, Clarke was joined by the British cameraman Peter Kelly and assistant cameraman Kelvin Pike to commence shooting of The Third River, IPC’s first company film.
The fourth member of the on-location production unit was Kerim Mejid, an Iraqi cameraman with experience at Studio Misr in Egypt. Clarke has said that Mejid was brought on, “to help us, not only technically but with his knowledge of language and customs.” Mejid’s role as part of the production team was highlighted in the Iraq Petroleum magazine where his image was featured with the caption: Iraqi Cameraman. Arabic versions of The Third River were produced and distributed to specialized industry and general audiences in Iraq and Syria. For the translation, filmmakers worked in co-operation with Sayed Ziad Fahim, of IPC’s Baghdad Office, and Professor Rifa'ai, of the University of Damascus, to write and record Iraqi and Syrian Arabic versions of the original commentary. As director of The Third River, Clarke has emphasized that “the Arabic version was very important because the film was designed to reconcile the oil company to the population, much more than to describe its operations to the English speaking audiences in Europe.” After 1952, the filmmaking strategy of the IPC public relations office was two fold. First, the Baghdad-based film unit was established to exclusively produce episodes of the Arabic-language cine-magazine for distribution in Iraq. Second, IPC sponsored the production of a dozen films by Film Centre and other production companies based in London. These films were made for distribution not only in Iraq, but also in other Arab countries as well as Britain. In all cases the company promoted the involvement of Iraqi and other Arab film technicians, writers, and musicians in the production of the oil company films.
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Facing Iraq "As It Is" Michael Clarke wrote of IPC’s first film project that, “in making The Third River we were faced with Iraq as it is, not with the luscious and cloying luxuries of a Hollywood gorgeous east.” The Third River crafted a positive image of the company for Iraqis with a coherent image of dignified and cooperative Iraqi oil workers, invested in the construction of the pipeline as a nation-building project. At the same time the film tied the project of oil extraction to the promise of modernity and social progress in Iraq.
The title The Third River emphasizes the flow of oil through its new pipeline as akin to the natural rivers that bring life to the land. Thus, the pipeline is represented as a natural conduit of national progress and modernity. In this sense, the film works to erase the visibility of the foreign company through the construction of an imaginary of oil extraction as a natural process, aided by modern industry. In this regard, the film excludes documentation of the top-down planning by the IPC that was necessary to carry out the pipeline project. Instead, the film focuses on presenting images of labor as if the construction were unfolding from the bottom up.

The film presents long sequences of men at work, welding and lifting and patiently waiting as the tedium of construction goes on. In the film and related promotional materials, the image of dignified and cooperative Iraqi oil workers, invested in the construction of the pipeline as a nation-building project, are featured as the driving workforce behind the project of oil extraction. Images of the oil company’s non-Iraqi representatives and experts remain virtually absent, except when white supervisors in European dress are shown speaking with men on the ground. Ultimately, The Third River defines the project of oil extraction as a logical extension of the country’s natural wealth, a foundation for the promise of national development (signified by modernization in the capital), and a stage for workforce productivity and cooperation.

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