Saleh is a middle-aged Iranian journalist who moonlights as a writer for one of Iran's most popular TV shows but cannot keep himself away from the front lines in neighbouring Iraq and Syria. There, the fight against the Islamic State is a proxy war, an existential battle, a declaration of faith, and, for some, a passing weekend affair. After weeks spent dodging RPGs, witnessing acts of savagery and stupidity, Saleh returns to his civilian life of Tehran bookstore readings and trendy art openings and finds it to be an unbearably dislocating experience. An unprecedented glimpse into the fight against the Islamic State from a Middle Eastern perspective, Out of Mesopotamia gives agency to the voiceless while offering a meditation on war that is moving, humane, darkly funny, and resonantly true.
