Director Mohamed Al Daradji’s “Irkalla: Dreams of Gilgamesh” definitely is not a feel-good story. The film gives a searing, poetic portrait of Iraqi children navigating impossible circumstances while blending the truths of modern day survival with echoes of ancient myth. It’s a contemporary tragedy that’s both heartbreaking and enlightening.
Set in war-torn Baghdad in 2019, the film follows Chum-Chum (Youssef Husham Al-Thahabi), a nine-year-old diabetic boy who clings to the Mesopotamian legend of Gilgamesh. Convinced that the Tigris River hides a gate to the underworld called Irkalla, he dreams of finding his dead parents and bringing them back to life. His older friend Moody (Hussein Raad Zuwayr) sees no such escape. Lured into making a series of dangerous choices by a militia group, Moody’s ill-advised decisions come with devastating consequences.
What grounds the film most powerfully are the performances. The child actors here are extraordinary. Soulful and instantly sympathetic, they draw the audience in with warmth and charisma. It doesn’t take long to become attached to the characters, which makes is all the more difficult to watch as they are confronted by hunger, loss, and violence.
Al Daradji frames the story with a balance of authenticity and lyricism. On one hand, the depiction of Baghdad feels unflinchingly real with the wreckage of daily life, the scarcity, and the casual brutality of militia power. On the other hand, the infusion of myth through Chum-Chum’s dreams of Gilgamesh and the underworld creates a striking duality. The children’s reality may be devastating and cruel, but their inner lives are full of hopeful stories, endless longing, and a spark of wonder and imagination.
Refusing to end with an easy resolution, “Irkalla: Dreams of Gilgamesh” has an unflinching honesty will rip your heart out.
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 