An amazement. James Longley’s brave and beautiful documentary is filmed without judgment and bookended with the voices of children aged beyond their years. The first in a triptych of stories is a Sunni boy straight out of Dickens, an apprentice to a cruel mechanic who lost his father and struggles to survive while his city burns. Shiites make up the middle section; they are charged with anger over years of oppression, at some times brutally enforcing Islamic law, at others yearning for democracy. Finally, a Kurdish child ruminates on God and life like a prophet, abandoning his schooling to tend sheep while black smoke fills the sky—this time from baking ovens that offer hope for the future.
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