Letters from Baghdad

The archeologist Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell (1868-1926) was an independent spirit from a young age. She studied at Oxford, smoked cigarettes and regularly took the Tube, but this was just the beginning of her journey of discovery. As a young archaeologist she traveled throughout the Middle East, making records of the many tribes and cultures she encountered along the way. Her knowledge proved invaluable after World War I, when the borders of this complex region were being redrawn. is her story in her own words, drawn from the many letters she wrote home, which are read aloud by actress Tilda Swinton. The epic tale of this archaeologist, explorer, political force and spy is also told through historical footage, Bell’s own photographs, secret documents and the accounts of her contemporaries, who speak variously in warm, humorous and critical tones about this “female Lawrence of Arabia.” The consequences of Bell’s actions still echo loudly in daily news reports from the Middle East.