Letters from Baghdad offers a wide-ranging narrative of Gertrude Bell's life (1868-1926) and places it in the historical context of the Middle East during the heyday of European imperialism. Bell's remarkable story is constructed out of her copious letters and first-person accounts by family and acquaintances that are presented through dramatic readings, archival film, and photography. The photography collection includes images from Bell's own travels, visits to archeological digs and classical ruins, expeditions in the desert, and portraits of members of the diplomatic and expatriate European community.

Gertrude Bell is a compelling figure and a useful frame for consideration of the Victorian era, European imperialism, and structures of European power and influence. Her story opens a window into Europeans’ fascination with the Middle East and the imperial appetite to exploit its strategic value and resources. As a woman who overcame many obstacles to education, exploration, and the exercise of official power, Gertrude Bell represents a powerful symbol of women's rising influence. She also exploded norms for her gender and class. She was the first woman to graduate with a first-class honors degree in modern history from Oxford, one of very few women to serve as an advisor to the British in the Near East during her lifetime, and the only female political officer to the Arab Bureau. Her “destiny in the East” combined her love of Persian poetry, architecture, and culture with her role in European interventions in the region's affairs.

The film best serves an audience already familiar with the role of the Great Powers in the modern history of the “Near East.” Because the filmmakers chose to use reenactment readings instead of employing experts to contextualize her biography within larger historical and political developments, some important historical points receive little explanation. For effective use in the classroom, viewers should first be briefed on this background. For example, the film introduces commentary on “the Eastern Question” of the Ottoman Empire's impending demise, Ottoman officials’ suspicion of Bell, and the Sykes-Picot machinations, but it is difficult to appreciate the full impact of the British decision to govern Iraq under the Mandate (created in 1921). There are instructive parallels to be drawn between the British claim to serving as Iraq's liberators and that of the United States when it invaded the country almost a century later. For use in a Middle East studies or history classroom, the film would need to be shown with additional historical commentary to explain the seeming paradox between Bell's role as a literary figure and archaeologist and that as a key provider of intelligence on the region to imperialist powers.

Use of archival footage in the film is very effective in places – especially material depicting the British military and police interacting with ordinary Iraqis. In contrast, other footage depicts quaint or exotic scenes that portray the region as a tattered and backward place. Such scenes are interrupted only occasionally by images of urban life or signs of modernizing change, such as a brief segment showing prominent elites and organized political responses to the British. The exotic scenes of local color contrast sharply with others showing businesslike goings-on of the English in the region and at home. In addition, Iraqis are much spoken about in the film but rarely speak – a missed opportunity by the filmmakers to explore perhaps the most important aspect of Bell's work, namely the good relations with Iraqis that were key to her acquisition of deep and valuable local knowledge about the region.

The film is stronger on gender than on politics. By dramatizing the sexism underlying the words of Bell's male superiors and colleagues, the film effectively brings to life the expatriate social milieu in which she worked. The contrast between the irony of officials’ arrogance and the respect in which Gertrude was held by Iraqis with whom she interacted is strikingly drawn. The filmmakers effectively place Gertrude as both insider and dissident within the British community in Iraq, functioning uncomfortably but stalwartly between English officialdom and the people and culture she loves and whose aspirations she tries to support.

The film ends with her descent into depression and suicide and suggests a parallel between her waning influence and the tragedies to come for the region. Underlying her personal story, one can read into the film a lament over Britain's misguided use of Bell's deep knowledge. However, it is silent regarding the wisdom of imperial meddling in Iraqi affairs and in the region as a whole.