"Nice Bombs" is an intriguing documentary about a filmmaker who goes back to his birth land, Iraq. The film was obviously a labor of love for its Chicago based director, Usama Alshaibi.

The film explores one man’s cultural identity, but it has some socio- political implications as well as unexpected moments of humor and warmth.

"Nice Bombs" played on the opening night of the Chicago Underground Film Festival, and it will play at different film festivals during 2006 and 2007. Usama Alshaibi’s works have been screened at numerous film festivals and venues across the United States. He received a 2005 grant from the Creative Capital Foundation for the Arts and as well as a Playboy Foundation Award (Playboy director, Christie Hefner came to the Chicago Underground film fest premier showing).

Alshaibi has completed a narrative feature titled "Muhammad and Jane," which featured his fellow Columbia College classmate, Piotr Tokarski. In addition he created many extraordinary, difficult to categorize shorts. The wonderfully transgressive shorts are so different from anything I have ever seen that they may be impossible to judge with the usual critical standards. Many explore issues of race, sex and violence in a very disturbing manner, and they serve to perplex and perhaps even irritate the audience in a thoughtful way. A compilation of the shorts under the title Veneral Video can be purchased at http://69.51.1.78/dancehabibi/store.html.

The film’s executive producer is the famed Chicago author, Studs Terkel, who interviewed Alshaibi for the book Hope Dies Last. "Nice Bombs" was produced by his wife Kristie Alshaibi who co-founded the Z Festival with him (she also goes by the names of Echo Transgression and Art Vamp).

The title is explained when Usama Alshaibi’s cousin, Tareef says: "It’s a bomb. A nice bomb." The line reflects the nonchalant attitude of the Iraqis towards violence, which has become an everyday occurrence.

"Nice Bombs" is about Alshaibi’s return to Baghdad to see his family after a 24 year absence. He soon learns that the country he knew in his childhood has changed as much as he has. At one point he jokes that even the slide he used as a youngster had gotten smaller.

The film shows Alshaibi entering an ornately decorated Mosque. He was only allowed to enter it because his family is considered a "custodian" and the structure is breath taking.

"Nice Bombs" was made on a low budget, but this does not adversely affect the quality of the film. Considering the subject matter,  Hollywood style slick visuals would have made the film seem false, and Alshaibi's rough, cinema verite style hits its mark.

The film collects some significant and special small moments, and we end up admiring Alshaibi’s family (and Iraqis in general) for persevering in such a violent atmosphere. In the most poetic and ingenious shot, we see a cat through bicycle spokes looking as if it is caged, which works brilliantly as a symbol for Iraq's feelings of entrapment. One of the simplest and most effective scenes occurs when Alshaibi family members clench hands and do a joyous dance.

The film also includes some fascinating discussions of gender roles in Iraq as well as a highly ironic memorial service.

"Nice Bombs" compares well with other films I have seen on the Iraqi conflict. It's a thoughtful piece of work about a man reconnecting with a culture in turmoil that manages to both educate and entertain. For more info on the film and Alshaibi go to http://www.pbp.net/~habibi/news.html.