Israeli film sows nostalgia among Iraqi Jews
The Israeli film “Farewell Baghdad” explores the Jewish community in Iraq that was expelled from the country in the 1950s and 1960s, and has sparked feelings of nostalgia among Iraqi Jews.
The production of an Israeli film about Iraq’s Jews, produced in Iraqi Arabic, has inspired nostalgia among both sides and dominated the headlines of dozens of Iraqi newspapers and websites. The news also attracted widespread attention within Israel.
The film, “Farewell Baghdad,” is based on a novel called "The Dove Flyer," by renowned author Eli Amir. Amir is an Iraqi Jew who left Iraq with his family in 1950. The story is of the historical plight of the Jews of Iraq, when they were driven out of the country during the 1950s and 1960s. It also highlights the cultural, social and political situation of the period.
The film also focused on historical and cultural ties between the Jews of Iraq with the other components of society. The movie was made in the original Arabic dialect of Iraq’s Jews, a unique and almost extinct dialect of the Arabic language. Iraqi Jews spoke this language for hundreds of years in Iraq, and when they left the country, the variant nearly vanished.
This movie is seen as a continuation and escalation of the cultural movement to increase communication between Jews and other Iraqis. This movement started two decades ago, when the two communities tried to reconnect and open up to one another.
