Once Upon a Time in Iraq: Tender moments make war documentary a masterpiece

What you rarely expect from a harrowing experience is humour, but it’s usually there to be found.

Those blackened moments of mirthless levity pepper Once Upon A Time In Iraq, the essential documentary about the invasion of the Middle Eastern country you can find on iPlayer.

It’s a good thing too. Just as mirth can help you cope in a traumatic situation, perhaps it helps the viewer get through this five-part series about the disastrous liberation of Iraq instead of being overcome with sorrow and rage.

The approach here is to interview people on the ground – from Saddam loyalists to confused Baghdad youths to jacked-up killers from the US Army – about what happened.

The aimlessness of the invasion once Saddam’s horrendous regime collapsed is staggering – hopeful Iraqis recall armed gangs springing up to the indifference of the occupying forces.

With diginity, against a black background, Alaa Adel recalls how she was hit by shrapnel from an insurgent rocket attack. Her face was shredded. Alaa lost an eye. Footage from 2003 shows her as a little girl, sitting in a hospital waiting room, scolding her distraught mum for making a scene.

Her girlish embarrassment is funny because it’s so recognisable; what’s not is the sight of her mum grieving for her daughter’s scarred future.

Once Upon A Time In Iraq, iPlayer