The Kurdish homeland remains divided
between four nations: Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. Sadly, these days Iraq is
probably the friendliest nation of the quartet—and the one in the least
position to object. Moderate Sunnis also appreciate the efforts of the Kurdish
Peshmerga forces countering the advance of ISIS. Is it time to call for the
independence of a free, unified Kurdistan? French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy
indirectly but unmistakably raises that question in his remarkable documentary Peshmerga (trailer here), which screens
during the 2017 New York Jewish Film Festival.
These are the Kurdish resistance fighters
who rose up against Saddam Hussein. It was also the Peshmerga who uncovered key intel that led to the capture and death of Osama bin Laden. Lévy (or BHL as it
is often dubbed in the press) flatly asserts they have been the most effective
fighting force battling ISIS (they prefer the term “Daesh,” which is good
enough for us)—and he ought to know. For six months, the mediagenic BHL was
embedded with various Peshmerga companies, with brief time out taken to tend to
his wounded cameraman. Yes, they were very definitely under fire.
Understandably, BHL was reluctant to leave
Ala Hoshyar Tayyeb during his initial treatment, but the time was not entirely
lost. While waiting to either return to the front or shuttle his crew member to
France for treatment, BHL visits an Assyrian Christian priest, who fled the Daesh
onslaught along with his flock, the last native speakers of Aramaic let on
earth, which just shows how closely linked this region is to antiquity.
Initially, viewers might presume Peshmerga was selected by the NYJFF
simply because of BHL’s Jewish faith, but the film takes on deeper Jewish
resonance when Lévy visits a remote village that still takes pride in its ancient
Jewish roots. Surely, the significance of the Muslim Kurds embracing ancestral
links to Judaism is so self-evident, it hardly needs belaboring. As an
additional fun fact, the Peshmerga are sufficiently progressive to have women’s
platoons, whom Daesh particularly fear, because if they are killed by a woman
they will supposedly be denied their place in paradise and those seventy-two virgins,
so good hunting to the Peshmerga women.
BHL is indeed one of the most important
living philosophers, but as an embedded journo, he captures episodes of
warfighting comparable to anything in the films of Sebastian Junger. He
introduces viewers to several Peshmerga commanders, who are colorful and . . .
commanding. Sadly, we will also mourn for one of them. BHL conveys the shock of
his loss, but still handles the incident with appropriate sensitivity.