For years, journalist Michael Ware worked as a war reporter in Iraq. With the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Regime mid-2003 the Western world expects peace and democracy in Iraq. But at that moment Al Zarqawi - who was to become one of the world’s most wanted terrorists - starts a different kind of war, using beheadings on film and suicide bombings. He handpicks Michael Ware as the recipient of these shocking images. Ware embarks on an epic journey and reaches places other journalists never do.

Even though he works for the written press Ware still films everything he encounters. He uses his small hand camera as a notebook and a diary. As he records what he sees, he struggles with all kinds of questions. Is it ok to film someone who is slowly dying? Or does it make you an accomplice? How dark does your heart have to be to handle all of this? What does it say about you as a person if you choose to do this?

After seven years, Ware returns from Iraq with hundreds of hours of unique, personal and often disturbing imagery. He combines forces with Oscar winner Guttentag to convert his hours of film into a disconcerting and intense documentary about the reality of war.