Hafar Al-Batin

At a glance

Hafar Al-Batin, is a 1999 Iraqi movie, directed by Abdul Salam Al Azmy, and starring Zahraa Al Rabee, Hanaa Abdulqader. Ricardos Yousef.

Overview

Hafar Al-Batin is the first Iraqi feature film to address the Second Gulf War, telling the story of Iraqi soldiers buried alive in their shelters in the border region of Hafar Al-Batin by massive bulldozers. Filmed in spring 2000 in the city of Habbaniyah, the production involved approximately 50 actors and 200 military personnel, and was reportedly set to be titled The Longest Day in History before its final name was chosen. Like the Iraqi film The Countdown, Hafar Al-Batin was banned from public screening, reportedly because it failed to secure approval from President Saddam Hussein — making it a suppressed document of one of the most contested chapters in modern Iraqi history.

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