David Benson In a world bombarded with slickly packaged rhetoric and insulated from reality by an out-of-date and dysfunctional media, this is a refreshing dose of authenticity. More than anything else, it gives the viewer a rich experience of real human beings, who stand in contrast to the vague two-dimensional characters who populate our public imagination.Clearly, a certain degree of subjectivity creeps into the presentation through the selection of what interviews to publish and how they should be edited. Also, the producers of the film insert file footage from insurgent propaganda and Baath regime atrocities. (herein lies my only caveat: there is some extremely graphic footage). However, I would say at least that if Michael Moore's work is valid documentary, or the TV networks' coverage is valid journalism, this work surpasses both.Some of the other commentary on IMDb has claimed that too many people in these interviews express 'pro-Bush' sentiments. This is a parochial concept. Expressions of hope and optimism for one's national and personal prospects need not be 'pro-Bush' or even 'pro-American'. Instead, I would submit that what we are seeing is Iraqis' genuine pride and confidence in *their own* people and their commitment to better themselves.The bottom line is that what the viewer sees is real (and interesting) people expressing their real thoughts and feelings. If these very human stories and images don't evoke your emotion and sympathy, then you should take your stone heart elsewhere.

frank-614 It always amazes me to see people who have endured great oppression and pain smiling so freely. The film makes it pretty clear that Iraqis have an indomitable spirit. I was struck by the almost unanimous level of support for America and "democracy" presented in the film - especially since an Iraqi poll released yesterday reported that in some areas 65 percent support attacks on US military, and less than one percent think the occupation is improving security. Even if a cynical view held that the film's American editors introduced their spin, the pure joy expressed by the children and twenty-somethings being filmed and filming was clearly genuine.Included in the film are archival clips - shocking examples of Sadaam's torturers at work. A few seconds of these is almost enough to turn any skeptic into a True Believer Bushite.One grumble: Is there a special motion picture school out there that trains sadists to create captions for foreign language films shown in the US? Those in "Voices of Iraq" have to be the absolute most painful to endure - they are tiny, often projected with little contrast with the background and flashed on and off so fast that one would have to be a champeen speed reader to follow wot the h they said.2nd grumble: Next time they do another film like this, hopefully they will hand out tripods along with the cameras. With the camera movement almost constant and the bleepin captions blinking on and off, it is a challenge to concentrate - but seeing the people up front and close and speaking their minds, made it well worth the minor irritation. Check it out.

Richard Brunton The first thing to realise about this documentary is that it is filmed by Iraqi people, it's Iraqi's behind the camera that were most likely in front of the camera a few scenes before. It's this that strikes you afterwards as the most powerful point. It's their words.So with this in mind it's amazing to see and hear what actual Iraqi people are saying. There's much controversy from this movie with suggestions it's one sided, yet what is less biased than hearing what the people in the country we have troops in are saying? This story is not one that should be dismissed on anyone's word. This is a movie that tells us what Iraqi people are thinking. That's it. Sure, I share a huge concern about the three hundred and ninety-eight hours that have been cut from this movie, what did they say? Anything, a different message? Perhaps, but the point is, right now this is the closest many of us are going to get to the truth without visiting Iraq and being with the people.It's an incredibly insightful and hard hitting movie. Forgetting the argument of the whether there has been political editing, the actual editing is very good. It pulls the stories into areas of Iraq to show the travel of the cameras, it mixes scenes of utter sadness and despicable torture - little is actually shown but enough to know what happens is - with moments of complete happiness and children's joy.Each of the key sections of the film are either defined by a move to a new location and\or a date in time to recognise an event. Usually accompanying the date is a Western newspaper headline from a prominent paper of that time, a headline which heavily contradicts the images you see before the camera. It was stunning to see a headline like "Iraqi citizens scared of local militia, streets deserted" while watching shots of extremely busy market places and the hustle and bustle of normal life. Seeing children playing and joking with the camera when an explosion happens somewhere in the not too far distance, and the kids keep playing, calming each other and telling them to carry on is a disconcerting sight.What comes across most is human side of the stories, and the connection you can feel with the people. Two scenes stood out in this way for me, one was seeing all the students talk of and celebrate their graduation, with the other being the women who were talking about receiving their free passports. "Now we are free to travel for the first time" and one woman leaps up, her hands waving in the air, a huge smile as she runs across the room to grab the passports and show them to the camera. She's so genuinely excited and happy, and you suddenly see something extraordinary. These are people like you. Before you would see them as another religion, dressing differently, different customs and ways, but here you see things that you do, that you feel, and the empathy and understanding in that moment makes you realise that.Then you'll see tough moments. The mother asking, confused, about why her son had to die; Listening to the Doctor talk of treating people whose tongues were cut out for speaking against the regime; Hearing of how Uday would visit the market each Saturday and choose a girl to rape. These stories hit you hard and emotionally, helped along by the continuing realisation of the connection with these people.Former torture victims of the prison that is now famous, Abu Ghraid, speak of the torture they received under Saddam's regime. One jokes that any Iraqi would be happy to undergo the torture of being stripped and being played with by a female soldier, it was much more attractive than what they received. Comedy in the bleakest of moments.The hardest part, and the least reported, is the devastation caused by the chemical attacks on the Kurds. We see photos taken of the first bombs being dropped, and of the people lying in the streets. To see this is to understand why something had to be done. Hearing the viewpoints of the Kurds living under the no fly zone for so long and seeing their way of life is an extremely interesting contrast to some of the others in central Iraq.One of the most amusing moments was seeing the heavy metal band, talking in Americanised English. For a moment I thought we had stumbled on some bizarre tour, however the real truth is more amazing, and funnier. Life goes on, and again these kind of light moments seeing the actual lives of Iraqi people help to make the connection to ourselves much stronger. We aren't that different.Two of the biggest revelations for me were the clear message of how much the Iraqi people want democracy, who's to blame for the attacks against their country and why. This is a strong and loud message that comes out of several different Iraqi's from different areas. It's something that I've never really thought about, and yet is very possible.The realisation that the Iraqi people are like us is one thing, but something else comes across, their intelligence and desire to better themselves is immense. It's something that is so clearly lacking in many areas in the Western Countries and yet is shown throughout many of the children and adults in the documentary. Engineers, Scientists, Degrees, the desires of the children are what end the movie and started me thinking.It is an amazingly powerful film, and something I think everyone should watch. This is a message from the Iraqi people themselves. There's no denying an amazing amount of footage is not shown, but there's nothing I've heard or seen to tell me that the cut footage contradicts the messages shown in this film. I urge you to see this movie.

el_topo_foto Just do a little research on the making of this film. Something so simple as a Google search. It was funded by the US Army and promoted just in time for the elections. It is a great idea, but I'd much rather see a DOCUMENTARY, not something edited by the Bush Administration and told its reality. The timing of the movie's release, its tone, and the fact that MS&L promoted it, raised questions about the intent of the movie. "According to MS&L Managing Director Joe Gleason, he and his colleagues also deliver key targeted messages about the war in Iraq to specific constituencies," wrote Eartha Melzer. "Was the left-leaning art house crowd one of those constituencies? Is the government hiring documentary filmmakers to propagandize the U.S. population? Nobody involved with the film is willing to say who initially put up the money for the film or how they ended up represented by the Army's PR firm."