A brilliant political mind, expert spy, adventurous explorer and at one point the most powerful woman in the British Empire, Gertrude Bell played a pivotal role in shaping Iraq after WWI. And yet her story has hardly been told. In this ingenious documentary, Tilda Swinton brings the words of Bell alive alongside a cast of actors who read from letters, diaries and official documents from her contemporaries, including T.E. Lawrence, a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia. Featuring stunning archival footage of the Arabian desert, Letters From Baghdad follows Bell's incredible journey, from her recruitment by the British Military to her shaping of the modern Middle East.