Overview: This story is told in the words of Gertrude Bell - sometimes called the female Lawrence of Arabia.

Bell was an explorer, spy, archaeologist and diplomat who helped shape the Middle East after World War I.

Advisor to Winston Churchill and critic of colonial policies in Iraq, Bell was considered the most powerful woman in the British Empire.

The film takes us into a past that is eerily current.

DVD Verdict: Voiced by Academy award-winner Tilda Swinton, directed by Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenb'hl, and produced by both Zeva Oelbaum and Rob Quaintance, 'Letters from Baghdad' is one of the most compelling 90 minutes I've spent in front of the TV in many a year.

Even if you don't know the story of Gertrude Bell, you will find yourself quickly engrossed in Swinton's storytelling narration of both her life and her now infamous, and remarkable exploits.

Watching along, we learn that Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveler, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making (due to her knowledge and contacts, built up through extensive travels in Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Arabia).

Along with T. E. Lawrence, Bell helped support the Hashemite dynasties in what is today Jordan as well as in Iraq. Furthermore, she played a major role in establishing and helping administer the modern state of Iraq, utilizing her unique perspective from her travels and relations with tribal leaders throughout the Middle East.

During her lifetime she was highly esteemed and trusted by British officials and exerted an immense amount of power. She has been described as "one of the few representatives of His Majesty's Government remembered by the Arabs with anything resembling affection".

All this, and so much more brings to life a person, a woman who has - to my mind - slipped under the radar of political history.

Hence, 'Letters from Baghdad' is one very personal and rather beautiful love letter (all pun intended) to a woman who at the outbreak of World War I, found her initial request for a Middle East posting denied … so instead volunteered with the Red Cross in France! Watch this and learn, my friends. Watch and learn. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.