It's hard to make a film that transcends the fiercely polarized debate about the Iraq war, but documentary filmmaker James Longley has done just that with "Iraq in Fragments," a vivid, poetic evocation of life in post-invasion Iraq that works both as impressionistic collage and candid portraiture.

Structured in three chapters, "Iraq in Fragments" tells the story of an 11-year-old Baghdad boy named Mohammed, who does odd jobs and insists that his cruel, tyrannical boss never beats or swears at him, despite clear evidence to the contrary. Metaphorical associations with life under Saddam Hussein are obvious but never forced by Longley, whose camera is a silent observer of Mohammed and his almost universally pessimistic neighbors.

From Baghdad, the filmmaker travels to Nasiriyah, home of Moqtada al-Sadr; here, weary urban cynicism gives way to the fierce piety of militant Shiites, who embark on a Taliban-like attack on liquor merchants in an outdoor bazaar.

The mood turns more lyrical in Iraq's Kurdish territory, where Longley follows an arrestingly attractive boy named Suleiman.