Iraq in Fragments is a beautiful, harrowing film, shot over the course of one year, just before it became almost suicidal for western filmmakers to be there. Three distinct stories, set in three distinct regions, are edited in three different cinematic styles. In Baghdad, the story of 11-year-old auto mechanic Mohammed Haithem is told in close-ups that communicate the suffocating, almost Dickensian life of this illiterate child who lost his father to the regime of Saddam Hussein. In Naseriyah, home of the revolutionary Shia movement, Longley gets incredible access to battles, political rallies, strategic meetings, and religious ceremonies. Finally, when we enter the Kurdish controlled northern Iraq, the style changes into a stunning, slow-moving social lyrical realism that beautifully captures the aspirations (and laments) of the Kurdish people. The only trace of violence here are the plumes of black smoke rising to the heavens from red brick ovens surrounded by fields of golden wheat.  RD