Letters from Baghdad

"Letters from Baghdad" is the story of a true original, Gertrude Bell, sometimes called the female “Lawrence of Arabia.” More influential and famous in her day than her colleague Lawrence, Bell was an explorer, spy, archaeologist and diplomat who helped shape the Middle East after World War I and established the Iraq Museum, infamously ransacked in 2003.

The end of the Cairo Conference of 1921 is held at the Egyptian Pyramids. In a telegram, Churchill explains the unanimous decision of the conference to install the Hashemite Prince Faisal as the first king of Iraq. Bell wonders about the consequences.

In a letters to her parents, Gertrude describes the beauty of the Tigris River at dusk during a hot summer’s night. King Faisal is observing the people frolicking in the water and the fishermen in the round boats (“ghuffas”) are singing sorrowful songs.

Gertrude Bell returns to the archaeological site of Babylon in 1918 to advise High Commissioner Sir Percy Cox on how to preserve antiquities and cease illicit digging of the area. She reminisces about her earlier trip to the site before World War I.

Gertrude Bell arrives in Constantinople on May 20, 1914. In a telegram, Sir Louis Mallet, the British ambassador, informs his superior about her incredible travels through the Middle East and the value they will have for the British Government.

Gertrude Bell discusses the fandango about her groundbreaking report on the Civil Administration in Mesopotamia presented to Parliament in 1920. The British Press is more astonished that a female can write a White Paper, rather than focusing on her work.

Gertrude Bell questions the British occupation of Iraq in 1917 shortly after her arrival in Baghdad. While interviewing the inhabitants of the country, she learns that one of the worst downsides of the occupation is the requisition of houses.

Winston Churchill, Gertrude Bell, T.E. Lawrence, and others meet at the Cairo Conference in 1921 to determine the fate of the Arab government in Mesopotamia and British relations.

On her journey to Hail in 1914, Gertrude Bell meets the Howeitat Tribe, a group infamous for their reckless courage. Apprehensive at first, the tribe allows Bell to photograph them, enabling a friendship to grow.

Gertrude Bell is apprehensive toward the outcome of the Paris Peace Conference in 1916. She writes to her former Superior and High Commissioner of Iraq, Sir Percy Cox, explaining her frustrations of the uncertain results and the looming difficulties.