Film Review: 'Bekas' shows Iraq in a good light

What's fascinating about Bekas isn't just its sentimental look at Kurdish life under Saddam Hussein. The surprise of Kurdistan-born, Sweden-educated filmmaker Karzan Kader's semi-autobiographical tale is its portrayal of Middle Eastern characters rejoicing in all things American, back when the good name of the United States was still intact.

Dana (Sarwar Fazil) and Zana (Zamand Taha) are orphaned siblings living hand-to-mouth as shoe shiners in a Kurdish town in Iraq in the 1990s, presumably before the Gulf war. One day, the boys sneak onto the roof of a local theatre and get a glimpse of Superman being screened. Without any real knowledge of America, or even where it is on the map, the two brothers decide they want to go there.

"America is a huge city," 10-year-old elder brother Dana boasts, as if he knows what he is talking about. They then embark on a quest of quixotic proportions - with curious allusions to the Miguel de Cervantes classic.