True/False Films

Sergio
Dir. Greg Barker; 2009; 95 min.
Saturday, Feb. 28 / 8:00PM / Macklanburg
Sunday, Mar. 1 / 1:00PM / Blue Note

In person: director Greg Barker

When George W. Bush opted to override the United Nations and invade Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, responded in stark language: "No one can predict the human costs of this war." Transmuting Samantha Power's book Chasing the Flame, Greg Barker reminds us how war robs us not just human lives, but of human potential. Barker uses powerful imagery and testimony to tells us the story of de Mello, the man who best represented the hope, promise and idealism of a new Iraq, and the devastating realities that swamped them. Having transformed impossible UN missions in Cambodia, East Timor and Kosovo into success stories, de Mello arrived in Iraq with the world's most impressive peace-building resume and a reputation as articulate, charismatic, fearless "magician" who could work with anyone. But on August 19, 2003, the impossibility of UN's mission in Iraq — a diplomatic black hole — became tragically clear. Sponsored by the University of Missouri in Columbia. (JS)