The Troubled Bear and The Palace

By

Walid Siti

Film still from ‘The Troubled Bear and The Palace’

Film still from ‘The Troubled Bear and The Palace’


 

An experimental documentary about an abandoned bear at the remains of Saddam's palace.


At the 7,000 ft peak of the Gara mountains in Kurdistan of Iraq, the remains of Saddam's palace, built in 1989, still stand. 29 years later, in March of 2018, two caged bears were escorted by a group of local media and Kurdish women forces to be ceremoniously freed at the helipad adjacent to the palace.

Having lived dependently and in captivity throughout its life, the bears struggled to survive in the wild. One vanished whilst the other was at the mercy of the personnel that guard the telecommunication towers erected at the palace. The surreal juxtaposition of the stressed bear and the dilapidated palace, set amongst the magnificent mountains, encapsulates the tragedy of the people of this land throughout history, from the time of Gilgamesh to the present.

To watch ‘The Troubled Bear and The Palace’ click the link below: