Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman in the British Empire in her day, shaped the destiny of Iraq after WWI in ways that still reverberate today.

Gertrude Lowthian Bell, sometimes called the "female" Lawrence of Arabia, was a British adventurer, archaeologist, and political powerhouse who helped shape the modern Middle East after World War I. Voiced and executive-produced by Tilda Swinton, the film chronicles Bell's journey into the uncharted Arabian desert and the all-male halls of colonial power with never-seen-before archival footage of the region shot a century ago that transports the viewer into a past that is eerily current.