Rafigh Pooya’s “Broken Bridges” is a beautiful, heartfelt film made by an Azerbaijan native whose country has been blessed with vast oil reserves and cursed by geography. Its people have suffered at the hands of the Nazis in their attempt to tap those oil resources only to suffer further in the aftermath of World War II when the superpowers placed part of Azerbaijan in Iran’s sphere of influence with the remainder in the USSR. Part of Azerbaijan still remains in Iran while the Republic of Azerbaijan, which declared itself independent of the USSR in August 1991, continues to experience much strife.

So complex is Azerbaijan’s history in the 20th century that “Broken Bridges” will surely be best appreciated by those bringing a background to it.  In any event, it deals with a young filmmaker Jeff Valizadeh (Peter Reckell) driven to return to his ancestral land in 1990 to make a documentary about the fates of his parents in the aftermath of World War II as a way of calling attention to the manner in which decisions made by
The superpowers can devastate the lives of tens of thousands or ordinary people.  Valizadeh’s previous documentary work dealing with Iran and the fall of the Shah had brought him to the attention of the FBI, and no sooner does he arrive in Baku; a city of ancient and spacious Eurasian splendor, does he find filming activities capture the intimidating interest of the KGB.

"Broken Bridges” is poignant but hard to track.  Valizadeh’s emotional turmoil and obsessiveness over his project are somewhat beyond Reckell’s abilities to portray effectively, but he digs in and improves as the picture progresses.