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A documentary that details the life and humanitarian work of Sergio Vieira de Mello, a man who endeavored to bring peace and security to countries like Rwanda, Mozambique, Cambodia and East Timor. de Mello was among the people killed in a bombing attack on the UN Headquarters in Baghdad on August 19, 2003.—Anonymous

In June 2003, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights and Kofi Annan's special envoy to Iraq, delivered a message of hope to a country shattered by war, promising humanitarian aid, reconstruction, refugee return, economic development, legal and judicial reform and an end to occupation. His goals for Iraq were ambitious, but Vieira de Mello was up to the challenge: in a diplomatic career that had taken him to such hot spots as Mozambique, Cambodia and East Timor, the brilliant and charming diplomat known throughout the world simply as Sergio had often been able to accomplish the seemingly impossible. But it would be in Iraq where Vieira de Mello's work would be tragically left unfinished. On August 19, 2003 he was killed, along with 21 others, when a massive bomb exploded just outside the UN headquarters in Baghdad. As the struggle for peace in Iraq continues, as well as debate about the role of the U.S. in the process, EN ROUTE TO BAGHDAD provides an inside look at the sometimes overlooked power of diplomacy and reminds us of the power that a single human being can have on the world.

Sophisticated, brilliant and idealistic, Sergio Vieira de Mello is recalled in EN ROUTE TO BAGHDAD as a man of enormous charm and passion. Poised to become the next UN Secretary General, Vieira de Mello was a dashing, Sorbonne-educated, Brazilian-born diplomat whose skill lay in an optimistic belief in human nature and a conviction that freedom and self-determination were not only right but attainable. In conversations with UN colleagues such as Kofi Annan, former American UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and others, we learn that when the tensions were high, Vieira de Mello was at his best. Known for his ability to bond with everyone, from the poorest refugee to the most hated tyrant, Vieira de Mello was seen as the only man for the extremely delicate job in Baghdad. His death is a tragic metaphor for the difficult and ongoing effort to bring stability to Iraq.

Throughout his career, Vieira de Mello's skill was in uniting people under the most challenging circumstances and his career is in many ways a recent history of the United Nations itself. Time and again he traveled to countries torn apart by dictatorships and civil war, working for organization, cooperation and stability. He showed equal respect to peasants in Mozambique, teachers in East Timor and royalty in Cambodia-a testament to his outstanding ability to bring people together under a single cause. In Cambodia, Vieira de Mello was the only UN official who was able to negotiate with Khmer Rouge leaders, managing to get refugees back to areas under their control.

The crew of EN ROUTE TO BAGHDAD traveled to nine countries--including a brief stay in North Korea at the invitation of King Sihanouk of Cambodia-to document how tremendously successful Vieira de Mello was in working with the people whose lives he had the power to change. It also shows how the UN has quietly but doggedly shaped our world.