Viewers won’t be able to look away from the engrossing story of Baghdad Central. The six-part series on Lionsgate Play is set in the 2003 post-invasion Iraq after Baghdad fell into the hands of the US militia and follows the story of Iraqi ex-policeman Muhsin al-Khafaji (Waleed Zuaiter; Omar, Altered Carbon), who lost nearly everything to the war, including his wife and son.
Khafaji is forced into a risky collaboration with American forces when his estranged elder daughter Sawsan (Leem Lubany; Omar, Condor) goes missing while his sick youngest daughter Mrouj (July Namir; Homeland, Collateral) falls into critical condition. As he investigates his daughter’s disappearance, Khafaji learns that Sawsan has been leading a dangerous hidden life.
Baghdad Central gives audiences a true-to-life glimpse of the aftermath of war, complete with all of the horrors that come with geopolitical conflicts. Beyond the big picture set by the series, it also paints a deeply personal story about a family torn apart and how a father is willing to do everything to give his daughters a wonderful life.
Talking about why it’s been so long since there was a major drama about the Iraq War, writer Stephen Butchard said, “We’d partly forgotten about it. It was this almighty rock in the pond in the Middle East whose repercussions are still being felt today.
That region has never been the same since: Saddam was a despot but acted as a glue there. As soon as he disappeared there was a vacuum and that was filled by other factions. All this, and Iraqi and Iranian migrants are still being found in the English Channel.”
For Butchard, telling the story of Khafaji and truthfully representing real-life Iraqis in the midst of war is a huge responsibility.
“It’s a privilege and a responsibility when people share their pain and experiences with you, and then to have to write about people in that situation and their bravery. This is about hope in very difficult circumstances and in real trauma, how people can find a way through it all,” he adds.
Baghdad Central lead actor Waleed Zuaiter said the movie feels like a particularly personal project. “I’m a family man, with two kids roughly the same age as Khafaji’s daughters in the show. I feel I’ve been a bad father at times because I travel quite a bit and I’ve missed certain milestones in my kids’ lives.
Khafaji was too damaged to be there for his daughters after the death of his wife and his son in a short space of time. He became very distant because the pain was unbearable, and he simply wasn’t strong enough other than to barely hang on. The feelings of battling the pain when your own family looks up to you for strength, that is very personal to me.”
