Modernity Against Tradition
The camera lingers over the image of modern urban life, and the jumps to a sequence that reproduces visual tropes that are meant to signify traditional aspects of culture. The commentary juxtaposes the two scenes using the following transition: “But the people of Iraq hold on to the best of their old traditions.” Cutting to a scene of a copper craftsman on the ground, molding a sheet of metal into a cone, it goes on, “In the bazaars you can see and hear them, carrying on the art and exquisite craftsmanship that has been their pride for hundreds of years.” The visitor’s perspective returns as the subsequent scene brings us into a small interior space, shopping for rugs alongside a young European couple.
Baghdad is depicted in a sequence of street traffic and the soundtrack of honking horns and car engines. The commentary states, “Today the streets of the city are alive with the bustle of a young people who are taking back from the west the means to a brighter future.” The film then moves to a long montage that focuses on pastoral scenes of Kurdish villagers performing everyday tasks like cleaning, carrying water and agriculture. An underlying theme of the film's depiction of rural livelihoods and space is the timeless relationship between Iraqis and water: the Tigris and Euphrates rivers credited as the source of Iraq's ancient civilization.