What does a hit film about the Iraq war say about Chinese views of the world?

A new film telling the story of the Iraq war through Chinese eyes marks the latest in a series of soft power initiatives designed to get Beijing’s message across to the wider world. Although Once Upon a Time in the Middle East does not explicitly state the name of the country in question, it is set in the 2000s and features an invasion by American troops. The film’s central character, a Chinese chef named Xu Fu who is working off his debts at the time the war starts, turns his modest…