Nowhere to Hide, which is playing at Facets Multimedia for one more night, is a valuable document of postoccupation Iraq. It’s brilliantly structured and edited, but those virtues are secondary to the film’s value as a firsthand document of life in Iraq during the last several years. In scene after scene, Nowhere presents eye-opening footage of life amid war and deprivation; these images make the movie important viewing for anyone concerned about the fate of Iraq following the U.S. occupation. I expect it to stay with me for a very long time.
Watching Nowhere to Hide, one might marvel at the fact that Sharif has worked for so long in such a dangerous environment without being harmed or having to radically alter his life. Yes, the opening scene informs us that he and his family will wind up as refugees, but that isn’t until late 2014. To have survived the U.S. occupation and the first years of Iraqi self-rule with the family unit intact seems like a blessing. That good fortune won’t last, of course—as the film moves forward in time, a palpable sense of dread comes to shape everything we see. It’s as though Ahmed wants us to ask, How long before Sharif and his family will be displaced?
