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‘Baghdad Messi’ Review: From Iraq Comes a Heartfelt Social Realist Drama Set During the Second Gulf War
Sahim Omar Kalifa's second narrative feature expands the story of his 2012 short about a young soccer player who loses a leg in a terrorist attack.
The shattering of a childhood dream is symbolic of the cruelly contorted fate of a nation in “ Baghdad Messi.” Kurdish-Belgian filmmaker Sahim Omar Kalifa has expanded his much-acclaimed 2012 short into an affecting social drama that unfolds amid violence and fear in Iraq, 2009, during the second Gulf War. Centered on a soccer-mad young boy whose family is forced to move from the capital to a small village after his leg is blown off in a terrorist attack, “Baghdad Messi” has an almost documentary-like realism that makes compelling viewing of Iraq’s international feature Oscar submission. Filmed by cinematographer Anton Mertens (“The Spy,” “Zeevonk”) in an unfussy style that suits the drama ideally, “Baghdad Messi” is set to a fine score by Frederic Vercheval (“Green Border”) that is rich with the sounds of the duduk woodwind and lute-like oud stringed instrument.
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