Clash of Loyalties (1983)

Original title

المسألة الكبرى

Directed by

Mohamed Shukri Jameel

Genre

Film

Country

Iraq

Runtime

2h

Rating

7.5 of 10 from 2 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This film tells the story of how Iraq was formed from Mesopotamia after World War One. It follows British officials and local figures during that time of change.

historicepicslow-burnseriousdramaticsobergrand scalecontemplative

What happens

Clash of Loyalties (Arabic: المسألة الكبرى, romanized: al-masʿāla al-kubrā, lit. 'The Great Question') is a 1983 Iraqi film focusing on the formation of Iraq out of Mesopotamia in the aftermath of the First World War. The film was financed by Saddam Hussein, filmed in Iraq (mainly at the Baghdad Film Studios in Baghdad's Mansour neighbourhood and on location at the Tigris-Euphrates marshlands, Babylon and Kut) at the height of the Iran–Iraq War and starred Oliver Reed as Gerard Leachman, Marc Sinden as Captain Dawson and Helen Ryan as Gertrude Bell, with score by Ron Goodwin. Investigative journalist James Montague, writing in the July 2014 issue of Esquire magazine, claimed that Marc Sinden spied for the British Government's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) during the filming of Clash of Loyalties in Iraq, after being made "an offer he couldn't refuse, appealing to his duty and his pride in Queen and Country." In the article, Sinden admitted that it was true. Both Arab and English versions of the film were produced. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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