This extraordinary film was made by Sean McAllister during the last Iraqi crisis (the one defused by the UN's Kofi Annan in person *February 1998).
With air strikes averted, McAllister decided to carry on filming, making a double portrait of his two Ministry of Information minders, Kifah and Alla.
The likeable and decent Kifah, a former English teacher enjoying a rare spell of paid work, is a football mad Anglophile: 'I can't forget Bobby Moore,' he sighs. Alla, Head of Protocol, is a suave ladies' man and pop fan (very taken with Chumbawumba).
McAllister carries on filming Kifah after he is dropped as a minder and in doing so creates an illuminating and touching picture of the man and of everyday life in Iraq.
(© Nigel Andrew, The Daily Mail)
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