Film on Iraq gives insurgents' views

Two journalists who have spent years detailing social and political conflicts in nations worldwide revealed Friday in their film the resistance view of the American presence in Iraq.

Through the help of a translator, Molly Bingham and Steve Connors interviewed dozens of Iraqis who are part of movements and operations to "let (Americans) know they are not welcome here," said an Iraqi in the film who is anonymously called "the Warrior."

"We share a puritanical sense of journalism and its role in society," Bingham said of herself and Connors. "An important part of understanding any conflict is seeing all sides of the story."

The two spent 10 months traveling within the same two kilometers in Baghdad. They found people willing to talk about their active participation in a resistance movement, a quite different story portrayed in the mainstream media.

"This is the heart and soul of Iraq — to resist occupation and to resist foreign troops on their soil," Bingham said. Quoting Department of Defense statistics, she said the majority of significant attacks in Iraq target U.S.-led coalition forces.

"Meeting Resistance," which opened last March, was screened Friday night at the University of Utah's Orson Spencer Hall. It marked the beginning of the school's Winter Conference, which included a variety of topics surrounding its theme — Progressive Agenda for 2008.

In the film, active "insurgents" who are former militiamen, wives, civilians, teachers, business owners and others share their sources of motivation and goals.

"The playground is ours, we play on our own terms," said one Iraqi, adding that Americans coming into his country would be sent home in coffins.

Many told of how they receive funding and weapons to carry out missions against American troops. The gathering of information in the making of the film came with intense risk, and there was a "parody of vulnerability," Bingham said.

"We didn't try to hide anything," Connors said of the making of the award-winning film. He said if they had found evidence of al-Qaida in their filming, the 84-minute, subtitled film would have turned out much different, and that what they portray is the reality of what they found in Baghdad.

Several in attendance were not surprised by that reality, saying it was a relevant depiction of what is happening in Iraq. The display caused 17-year-old Jahnavi Stone to want to be more politically involved.

"I didn't expect the animosity I saw," she said, adding that most of what she reads or hears about is a different story. "It was an amazing film and very true to the heart and well-done. It's definitely something we need to be informed about."