Blood and Oil: The Middle East in World War One |

Year: 2006

Blood and Oil, a new documentary from Inecom Entertainment, was utterly impressive. Director Marty Callaghan, whose previous work includes writing and producing a TV mini-series called The 20th Century: A Moving Visual History, clearly has a strong personal interest in his subject, and conveys a sense of immersive passion as he pursues the roots of the chaos that exists in some areas of the Middle East today.

The film is not only extremely interesting to watch, it’s dramatic appeal is multiplied by its prophetic timeline which uncovers many previously untouched historical turning points in the various conflicts, treaties and revolts that spawned countries including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, keys names in World politics today. Given the historical significance of the Ottoman Empire and its demise in 1918, and the importance of Middle Eastern oil reserves to Western economies, the raw data alone was well worth the watch.

Blood and Oil is not just a film for history buffs or social studies students doing research on the subject, it’s crafted to give us a window into the basis of events that are changing our world right now, and hints that strategies and policies that some Western nations pursue today are taking an already existing tinderbox, and lighting a match to it.