With all the talk of American primaries and the continuing unrest in Pakistan and Kenya, Iraq has slipped from the news radar slightly in recent days. The Boys from Baghdad High screened last night by BBC2 brought the reality of living in war-torn Baghdad to life in a far more vivid manner than any news item could do.

The Boys from Baghdad High involved giving video cameras to four boys from the final year class in Baghdad High. With the cameras, they recorded their day to day life over the academic year. They were all of different religion and of very different temperament; English is seen as a ticket to university for one, as a way of becoming a singer songwriter for another. A third boy has no interest in studying whatsoever and is on course for failure across the board in his final exams.

Danger and death is part and parcel of the lives of these seventeen year olds. Even the simple omission of forgetting to send a text message sends one of them into a day-long worry for the safety of his girlfriend. Yet, through it all, what emerges from the Boys of Baghdad High is the resilience of the teenagers featured. Who can forget the excitement of coming up to one's final exams in secondary school. The sense of tangible freedom and possibility. The intensity of relationships with friends and others. Above all, the sense of fun imbued in the teenage spirit. This is not lacking in the four boys of Baghdad High. They are funny, disarming and terrifyingly well-adjusted considering the menace surrounding them. That they should be beaten down on their journey to adulthood is yet another travesty of this war.