‘Baghdad Central’ Review: Cowboys in the Green Zone

Hulu’s show, set during the Iraq War, is a Middle Eastern western filled with ambiguity.

‘Baghdad Central,” the impossible-to-stop-watching six-part series on Hulu, is a Middle Eastern western in the “High Noon” tradition, though that hardly does it justice. Yes, there’s a solitary hero with the cards stacked against him. High-stakes gambling. Even a saloon. But the setting is Baghdad during the Iraq War, where the evildoers come in a variety of not only shapes, sizes and hat colors, but ethnicities, profit motives and watery allegiances. The cultural landscape is amorphous. The evil is highly calibrated. The good is loosely defined. When you can find it.