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Review #238 of 365
Film: The War Tapes (2006) [NR] 97 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $14.00
Where Viewed: Starz FilmCenter at the Tivoli, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 6 September 2006
Time: 5:15 p.m.
Directed by: Deborah Scranton
Review Dedicated to: All Veterans of the US Military--may your dedication and service be long remembered and respected.
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
The War Tapes could be one of the most important films of the year in certain ways. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the people who should see the film, the men and women of our Congress, probably won't take the time to see it. And, that's too bad because, after all, in our representative government of elected officials, we only have a direct say every 2-6-4 years (two years for Representatives, six for senators, and four for our president). And while this film brings about many, many important thoughts, the first and foremost is the responsibility these elected men and women owe to represent the people in the United States of America for without that, there is no point to us having a free and open democratic society let alone fighting to spread it all over the world. Therefore, I strongly encourage every law-abiding, voting citizen of the U.S.A., but especially the congress people, to take the time to seek out and see this film.
What's the story behind the story? Well, it seems that the administration of the Executive Branch of the government to which the Constitution gives the authority over which to control both foreign policy and the US military should the Congress agree to take the nation to war, may have been concerned about how the invasion of Iraq would play out in the media. So, they did a very smart thing. They figured, it seems, that a "if you can't beat them, join them" approach might work and created a program to embed journalists with the actual troops that were going to be carrying out the missions related to Iraqi Freedom. One such journalist, Deborah Scranton, took a decidedly different approach to this invitation to become embedded than most of her colleagues. She invited three of the actual soldiers involved to take cameras with them and film everything they encountered. The results, interspersed with footage of interviews with the three soldiers after their successful return from a 16-month tour of duty on the front lines in Iraq and footage of interviews with the loves ones back home eagerly awaiting each day news as to whether they had survived another day in the war torn region. The net outcome of editing all of this footage taken by soldiers Zack Bazzi, Mike Moriarity, and Steve Pink is a mesmerizing documentary with all sorts of incredible outcomes.
"…one of the most important films of the year…"
First and foremost, the film can do no less than compel each and every citizen of the USA to recognize the incredible sacrifices being made on a daily basis by the actual soldiers in Iraq and the not-to-be-forgotten solider in Afghanistan. Their lives are in constant peril even to this day was we read every single day in the paper of casualties. The sacrifice, unfortunately, extends beyond the lives of the soldiers themselves to those of their children, partners, and next of kin. While it seems that nearly everything has been done to ensure that the public continues to perceive this as a negligible consequence of the decision to invade Iraq it is doubtful that any family member of a solider who has lost his or her life in Iraq views this as negligible. When people say, "Support our Troops" they mean "Support our Troops". As the film makes indelibly clear, the soldiers did not ask to be put in harms way. They are members of a military force at the whim of the Commander and Chief. Therefore, they must obey orders and do as they are told. Their opinions or politics do no matter. In fact, to be effective, they have to be of a singular focus and that is the safety of each other first and then accomplishment of the mission second. Supporting the troops versus supporting the war are two entirely different concepts. They do not depend on each other no matter what the current political rhetoric may suggest. And, one way to support the troops is to work hard to do everything possible to ensure their safe, uninjured, return.
One of the second things the three soldiers, each in his own way, brings to the surface, is the emphasis on the money involved in the conflict. Whether it's $56 styrafoam plates or the quickly-built Burger King and Pizza Hut with drive through windows big enough to accommodate a Humvee, whether it's all of the seemingly-endless graveyard of destroyed US military vehicles or the endless convoys of Halliburton trucks making deliveries, whether it's oil or not, the threesome bring up the incredible amount of money that is being made in this enterprise. And, one only has to look at the figures, again, this is where the Congress comes in as they appropriate the federal tax funds for war expenditures, and see that the war as already cost more than $300 billion. Don't bat an eye at this sum. This is a huge amount of money. Roughly, it's nearly the equivalent of $1000 for every person in the country. Write it out…$300,000,000,000. I remember when the voters of my home city were being made fun of by journalists all over the nation because we voted to spend $5 billion on our new airport with a broken baggage system. That's right. The final figures for the cost of building completely from scratch, the new Denver International Airport cost a mere $5 billion dollars. For the $300 billion the money we've spent in Iraq thus far, every state could have had $6 billion to completely build one, new, state of the art airport from scratch. Or how about this, the new, 17-mile, second light rail line that Denver just built as part of a massive I-25 reconstruction project, cost around $800 million. Since Denver already has a new airport, it could have built close to eight more, 17-mile light rail lines virtually interconnecting the entire metro area. Everyone talks about ending homelessness in Denver. It's the mayor's big plan. Give Mayor Hickenlooper (that is his real name) $5 billion to work with, and I bet he could end homelessness over night. If there are a recently reported 9,091 homeless people in Denver as reported in the Rocky Mountain News 9 May 2006, you could build them each a $275,000 home for a mere $2.5 billion. Guess what? No more homeless people in Denver, and you'd still have $3.5 billion to use to create jobs for them as well. Now mind you, this whole time, I've been talking about the $5 billion for Colorado of the $300 billion spent. I realize I am belaboring the point, but sometimes I think our elected officials forget about this $300 billion and ask themselves if they are spending our money as we would wish they would. The scariest thing, of all, however, were comments made by Steve Pink who basically indicated that this entire operation had better have been for the protection of oil in Iraq because to have put the lives of so many USA service men and women in harms way for anything less would be a tragedy. When you put it that way, he makes a lot of sense, doesn't he? The entire economics of the campaign in Iraq are put up for contemplation by the three soldiers in a way that forces some tough realizations. One even teases a bit about the people profiting off the sale of the yellow ribbon stickers for cars. "Everyone has to make a living," he says.
The third thing that comes across so loudly and in a very compelling way is that the soldiers were not prepared to be part of an occupying force. Moreover, they are completely untrained as to the cultural differences between their own cultures and those of the Iraqi people. Together, this makes for an untenable situation most of the time for the soldiers are expected to interact with and ultimately protect people they do not really understand. One of the three soldiers, who is an immigrant from Lebanon--his parents immigrated when he was a little child to escape the war in Lebanon, is fluent in Arabic and quite versed in Middle Eastern culture. He is tremendously loyal having served in Kosovo and Bosnia in previous tours of duty. He has fought loyally and patriotically for his new nation, and he clearly loves the USA. Still, he indicates impatience with the notions of intolerance exhibited by his comrades. They refer to the Iraqi people as "these people" and "they" or use their own derrogatory term "Hajjis " for all Iraqi people not realizing that the term is one of honor to Muslims only bestowed on those Muslims who have completed their Hajj to Mecca. He notes that there has been zero attempt to train the soldiers in any basic customs or the language of the people they are to protect. The notion that everyone on Earth must just learn to speak English is prevalent among these forces. Even simple things like the confusion among hand gestures as a flat palm directed outward in the USA means stop, whereas to Iraqis this means hello while their stop gesture in extended clenched fingers turned back toward oneself. So, if you want someone who doesn't speak your language to stop and you keep waving 'hello' they are going to inadvertently do the opposite of what you want. When the initial wave of the war began, it may have made sense to act now and worry about nuances later. But doesn't it seem counterintuitive to fail to prepare an occupying force designed to help transition and stabilize an emerging democracy in the customs and language of the local people? Wouldn't this just be a logical sign of respect? In the most perturbing and shocking aspects of this, Steve Pink films some dead Iraqi insurgents and then continues to film (cut from the final film) a roving dog chowing on the dead person. He is reprimanded by his superior officers who said he should have had more respect for the dead. He, however, doesn't take kindly to the reprimand and states emphatically that he sees nothing wrong with this the dog filling his belly on the body of the insurgent who shot at his men.
One of the second things the three soldiers, each in his own way, brings to the surface, is the emphasis on the money involved in the conflict. Whether it's $56 styrafoam plates or the quickly-built Burger King and Pizza Hut with drive through windows big enough to accommodate a Humvee, whether it's all of the seemingly-endless graveyard of destroyed US military vehicles or the endless convoys of Halliburton trucks making deliveries, whether it's oil or not, the threesome bring up the incredible amount of money that is being made in this enterprise. And, one only has to look at the figures, again, this is where the Congress comes in as they appropriate the federal tax funds for war expenditures, and see that the war as already cost more than $300 billion. Don't bat an eye at this sum. This is a huge amount of money. Roughly, it's nearly the equivalent of $1000 for every person in the country. Write it out…$300,000,000,000. I remember when the voters of my home city were being made fun of by journalists all over the nation because we voted to spend $5 billion on our new airport with a broken baggage system. That's right. The final figures for the cost of building completely from scratch, the new Denver International Airport cost a mere $5 billion dollars. For the $300 billion the money we've spent in Iraq thus far, every state could have had $6 billion to completely build one, new, state of the art airport from scratch. Or how about this, the new, 17-mile, second light rail line that Denver just built as part of a massive I-25 reconstruction project, cost around $800 million. Since Denver already has a new airport, it could have built close to eight more, 17-mile light rail lines virtually interconnecting the entire metro area. Everyone talks about ending homelessness in Denver. It's the mayor's big plan. Give Mayor Hickenlooper (that is his real name) $5 billion to work with, and I bet he could end homelessness over night. If there are a recently reported 9,091 homeless people in Denver as reported in the Rocky Mountain News 9 May 2006, you could build them each a $275,000 home for a mere $2.5 billion. Guess what? No more homeless people in Denver, and you'd still have $3.5 billion to use to create jobs for them as well. Now mind you, this whole time, I've been talking about the $5 billion for Colorado of the $300 billion spent. I realize I am belaboring the point, but sometimes I think our elected officials forget about this $300 billion and ask themselves if they are spending our money as we would wish they would. The scariest thing, of all, however, were comments made by Steve Pink who basically indicated that this entire operation had better have been for the protection of oil in Iraq because to have put the lives of so many USA service men and women in harms way for anything less would be a tragedy. When you put it that way, he makes a lot of sense, doesn't he? The entire economics of the campaign in Iraq are put up for contemplation by the three soldiers in a way that forces some tough realizations. One even teases a bit about the people profiting off the sale of the yellow ribbon stickers for cars. "Everyone has to make a living," he says.
The third thing that comes across so loudly and in a very compelling way is that the soldiers were not prepared to be part of an occupying force. Moreover, they are completely untrained as to the cultural differences between their own cultures and those of the Iraqi people. Together, this makes for an untenable situation most of the time for the soldiers are expected to interact with and ultimately protect people they do not really understand. One of the three soldiers, who is an immigrant from Lebanon--his parents immigrated when he was a little child to escape the war in Lebanon, is fluent in Arabic and quite versed in Middle Eastern culture. He is tremendously loyal having served in Kosovo and Bosnia in previous tours of duty. He has fought loyally and patriotically for his new nation, and he clearly loves the USA. Still, he indicates impatience with the notions of intolerance exhibited by his comrades. They refer to the Iraqi people as "these people" and "they" or use their own derrogatory term "Hajjis " for all Iraqi people not realizing that the term is one of honor to Muslims only bestowed on those Muslims who have completed their Hajj to Mecca. He notes that there has been zero attempt to train the soldiers in any basic customs or the language of the people they are to protect. The notion that everyone on Earth must just learn to speak English is prevalent among these forces. Even simple things like the confusion among hand gestures as a flat palm directed outward in the USA means stop, whereas to Iraqis this means hello while their stop gesture in extended clenched fingers turned back toward oneself. So, if you want someone who doesn't speak your language to stop and you keep waving 'hello' they are going to inadvertently do the opposite of what you want. When the initial wave of the war began, it may have made sense to act now and worry about nuances later. But doesn't it seem counterintuitive to fail to prepare an occupying force designed to help transition and stabilize an emerging democracy in the customs and language of the local people? Wouldn't this just be a logical sign of respect? In the most perturbing and shocking aspects of this, Steve Pink films some dead Iraqi insurgents and then continues to film (cut from the final film) a roving dog chowing on the dead person. He is reprimanded by his superior officers who said he should have had more respect for the dead. He, however, doesn't take kindly to the reprimand and states emphatically that he sees nothing wrong with this the dog filling his belly on the body of the insurgent who shot at his men.
"…an excellent, well-balanced documentary…"
Finally, the film deals with the aftermath of the return of the soldiers to their families. It is clear that being gone has changed, and not for the better, the lives of all three. So the toll exacted from them and their families continues beyond the torment of worry as to the likelihood of their return alive and moves into what kind of a life will they be able to have after this? War changes people. Ask any veteran. Even if the end result is simply a bit more cynicism toward the government or the direction of the nation, that alone is a heavy price to pay.
The War Tapes is an excellent, well-balanced documentary. Aside from the opinions of the soldiers, it permits viewers to draw their own conclusions from what they have seen as any great journalist would do. The horrors the soldiers face are brought home first hand via their own cameras. Never have the citizens of the USA had an opportunity to see up close and personal what horrors the soldiers face on a day-by-day basis in a war zone. The film compels understanding and support for our troops while simultaneously asking us to hold our own politicians accountable for the decisions they make.
The War Tapes is an excellent, well-balanced documentary. Aside from the opinions of the soldiers, it permits viewers to draw their own conclusions from what they have seen as any great journalist would do. The horrors the soldiers face are brought home first hand via their own cameras. Never have the citizens of the USA had an opportunity to see up close and personal what horrors the soldiers face on a day-by-day basis in a war zone. The film compels understanding and support for our troops while simultaneously asking us to hold our own politicians accountable for the decisions they make.
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The War Tapes (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
The War Tapes could be one of the most important films of the year in certain ways. Embedded journalist, Deborah Scranton approached her invitation to become embedded a little differently. She invited three of the actual soldiers involved to take cameras with them and film everything they encountered. The results, interspersed with footage of interviews with the three soldiers after their successful return from a 16-month tour of duty on the front lines in Iraq and footage of interviews with the loves ones back home eagerly awaiting each day news as to whether they had survived another day in the war torn region, net a mesmerizing documentary with all sorts of incredible outcomes. War changes people. Ask any veteran. Even if the end result is simply a bit more cynicism toward the government or the direction of the nation, that alone is a heavy price to pay.
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