About five million Iraqis are living away outside their country today. Among them: Samir, who was born in Baghdad before arriving in Switzerland, while the rest of his family scattered across the globe, from Australia to Los Angeles, via Paris and Moscow. The director tells the story of this uprooted and separated family, but especially that of his country, against the background of the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein.

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At 2:45 an epic documentary about a country that has become a major player on the international stage in recent decades, Iraqi Odyssey is dense and can be read on multiple levels; it is full of sometimes instructional information, framed by surprisingly soft and touching narration. Cut into three acts articulated around the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein, Samir’s film commands respect, even if he does not always manage to bring order or energy to the story of these lives broken and shattered by the political regime. The work is colossal, full of memorable images, with an undeniable personal investment, but it is too academic to really be more than a good and solid documentary on Iraq and its people. This is certainly not enough, and a bit disappointing given the ambitions and the duration of the film.