The War Tapes

2水 攒人品]－＊

source: The War Tapes

I very much like the idea of this kind of soldier-journalism. What I found particularly useful is the short introduction of every soldier filming. There's the immensely patriotic Mike Moriarty, the intelligent Zack Bazzi and then there's Steve Pink. It's interesting to see how the ideology and personality of each of these soldiers colours their journalism. I liked the parts of Zack best, he's not as ignorant and influenced as other soldiers and understands the problems the army has. He's a sharp analyst. What the army needs, as Zack rightly sees, is a cultural training before being shipped off to an unknown country. When you have met the sensible and intelligent Zack, its hard to feel any sympathy for the average ignorant, patriotic American soldier, like when Moriarty and one of his friends criticizes Zack for socializing with the local people. Even though he puts his life on the line for his American home country, they still treat him as an outsider, which show their extreme ignorance and intolerance. "Today we kill Bazzi, and everyone that looks like Bazzi. That makes for a lot of targets today." Steven Pink also brightens up this documentary by his writing. He too, sees the ignorance and barbarism of his fellow soldiers. "The debate we had earlier in the day over the consistency and texture of a severed limb was not some far-off grotesque assumption. It was a genuine argument between the guy who swears it resembles hamburger, ground up but uncooked, and the guy who believes it looks more like a raw pot roast." The film features some emotionally strong and violent scenes that you would be able to see anywhere else on the mainstream media. Not for the faint of heart. Ultimately, even the ever so patriotic Moriarty begins to question the true motives for the war. Moriarty: "I feel like the priority of KBR (Burger King) making money outweighs the priority of safety." When the soldiers' deployment in Iraq ends, the film also looks at how the soldiers cope back home with the traumatic experience they went through. Hell and Back Again is a complementary must-see if you're interested in this. The strength of this documentary lies in the directness of the account of these soldiers. A great deal of the film's intellectual thought provoking strength comes from the account of Zack Bazzi. For me, he is really the one that elevated the documentary to its intellectual level, and provided the documentary makers with what they were really looking after. "I love being a soldier, the only bad thing about the army is that you can't pick your war." - Zack Bazzi

THE WAR TAPES is one of the finest films to come out of Operation Iraqi Freedom. What sets this film apart is that it is the first war movie filmed by soldiers themselves. Sergeant Steve Pink, a college English major before joining The National Guard, and several of his buddies filmed their experiences in the spring of 2004. The arc of the film encompasses the full range of their story; Training, Deployment, Combat, and finally, The Homecoming. Condensing hundreds of hours of unhampered footage, Director Deborah Scranton, and Producer/Editor Steve James (HOOP DREAMS) create ninety-seven minutes of enthralling Film Verite. This is far superior to the weak, and usually partisan, 'embedded' approach to this war. The soldiers very convincingly expound on the wide variety of their political opinions and their differences on the enforcement of our country's foreign policy. One of the men tells of the pervasive influence of Houston, Texas based Halliburton Corporation which operates seemingly without oversight. He says, "Everybody stands to make money the longer that we are there". He goes on to depict and detail a few of these limitless cost over-runs. Could this be one factor in our slow departure from Iraqi? After watching this section of the film it caused me to see, "Support The Troops", in a less than noble light. However, you come away from THE WAR TAPES not with a new vision of how America's geopolitical policy is formed, but rather how this endeavor changed the men who strove to establish it.

Not being an American and not really knowing much about the politics surrounding the war, but also not feeling strongly one way or the other about the USA's deployment there, really helped me to understand the soldiers viewpoints, personal feelings and fears portrayed within this 'movie'. I can express nothing but respect for these men for the things they saw and experiences they had. On a personal level i'm still unsure if the war in Iraq is right or moral but i feel that isn't the issue, whats done is done and the only aim now should be bringing stability to those peoples in such a way they can make their own futures. An excellent insightful documentary which is not biased or 'sugar coated' making it a very raw and sometimes shocking experience to watch and i hope it strikes each person who watches it in their own way really making them think - away from the political aims/games the media portrays for us.

Deborah Scranton put digvid cameras in the hands of several members of a New Hampshire National Guard Unit deployed to Iraq early in 2004. She then guided their filming of experiences there, reviewing footage fed back via Internet, responding with tips on improving their photography and complementing the content. The Unit stayed in country for 16 months, and was involved in highly dangerous missions, i.e., the invasion of Fallujah in November, 2004, and escorting supply truck convoys here and there. Scranton distilled 900 hours of tapes to yield this 97 minute film that focuses on the experiences of three soldiers. The footage succeeds in capturing the unpredictability, fear, chaos and ugliness of war. But the scenes that depict these matters make up just part of the film – the most revealing and unique part. Much of the remaining footage is just so-so, not up to the quality seen in professionally shot docs like Gunner Palace or Iraq in Fragments. Still, Scranton's bold experiment, moving beyond freelance or "embedded" photojournalism to the recruitment of soldier-journalists, is a worthwhile effort. My grades: 6.5/10 (low B) (Seen on 10/12/06)

I think it's a great experiment. It's unsympathetically real. One thing though, one of the soldiers with the camera says at one point that if it is going to solve the problem one can use a nuclear weapon. I was really taken aback and horrified by this; I think that nothing, and nothing whatsoever, justifies using nuclear weapons. I understand that this might have been said in a moment of intense anger or fear for one's life, but in all honesty I just cannot get myself to be OK with this. The other thing is that one of the soldiers toward the end of the film says something like you should either suggest a solution to the problem or shut up; so if I think it was a huge mistake to go to Iraq I should not voice that opinion. I, as a person, was genuinely offended by this. We live in a democracy and no one, and I mean no one, has the right to silence others who disagree.

I have seen a lot of the other documentaries that have come out, gunners palace was good, but this film really captured what soldiers roles were and what they were being forced to protect. The story goes from pre deployment to post deployment which focuses on a few soldiers lives and families as well. The film also spotlights where the money is being made in Iraq. Either way, if you care about the war in Iraq, I would strongly suggest watching this film. Again, it is providing us with another point of view needed to understand whats going on. Great Film.

Not even the fiercest opponent of the War in Iraq has anything but praise for the men and women in our military over there doing a tough job. As a Veteran, I support the troops. I support them so much, I don't want to see a single one killed or injured for bogus reasons. With that in mind, I have to say I was very impressed with this film. The War Tapes is put together from footage shot by real soldiers on the ground doing the day-to-day jobs that soldiers do. Only here, it seems they spend much of their time providing back up support for civilian KBR/Halliburton employees who make five times what they are paid. Why have an Army Private drive a supply truck for $20,000 a year when you can hire a Halliburton guy to drive it for $100,000? And no, Vice President Dick Cheney (former CEO of Halliburton) had nothing to do with the company getting lucrative "no bid" contracts in Iraq. How on earth is that even possible? The candor of the three men who provide the focus of the narrative is refreshing. I agree with them, this is a war for oil. And, if oil is not worth fighting for, then what is? But don't try and sell the bull that this is for democracy. This film is comprised of footage these men took during the year (2004) of their deployment. Fortunately, all of them return to the USA without any injuries, but there is evident psychological damage in two of them. Mike Moriarty and Steve Pink seemed to be fairly closed off, emotionally scared men before going into the Army; I don't think the Army made them that way; although Iraq may have exacerbated their nascent problems. They seem to come from that school of male behavior that says that anything resembling a feeling must be repressed, lest it be considered feminine. But they are so wrong. At least Steve Pink gets his feelings out in his writing. Indeed his descriptions of what he sees that we hear in letters sent home are very literary, with imaginative allusions and they surpass what most professional journalists write. My favorite guy in this group is Zack Bazz, who was born in Lebanon, came to America when he was ten and speaks Arabic. He at least has an understanding of the Arab culture and he is frequently called in to translate for difficult situations. He has beautiful dark eyes, full bushy eyebrows and a sweet open smile. Are you paying attention Hollywood? If Audie Murphy can become a film star after WW2, than Zack Bazz could be one when he's done in Iraq. I don't know if the guy can act, but he certainly has camera presence. When he's on screen, you don't notice anyone else. I like how Bazz also explains the insurgency. As he says, if Canada had invaded the USA after the 2000 elections claiming that Bush and company stole the election (a reasonable belief), it would not be unreasonable for gangs of Bush supporters to take to the hills with their weapons and fight back. So you see, Bush supporters and Saddam supporters are a lot closer than you might think. One odd thing occurs, Mike Moriarty says something that puzzles me. Explaining how he felt after 9/11, he claims that he felt totally frustrated. We then see some home video footage Moriarty shot on September 28, 2001 of the still smoking ruins of the World Trade Center. Moriarty then claims he immediately went to his Army recruiter and asked specifically to be put into a unit being sent to Iraq. This was in September of 2001. Not even George Bush was touting Iraq as a cause for 9/11 that early. Did this happen the way it is shown or was this just some unclear film editing? How did Mike Moriarty know in September of 2001 that he needed to go to Iraq? Bush himself has since admitted that there was no connection between Iraq and 9/11, so is this just a mistake or what? If anyone has an answer for this please let me know, because it struck me as being a false note in a film that generally has the ring of truth.

I have an open mind.........but I gave this a 5 because I don't think this sort of stuff needs to be viewed by the world, fair enough keep it for the soldiers who were there..but no doubt kids will end up seeing this. It will also create more hatred in general, towards the west. However, I thought this was well put together and gives you a real sense of being there, especially if you plug in your 5.1 and blast that sub woofer ! Some parts are very disturbing (be warned) Watch any other war flick, you know the guys aren't really getting killed..this made some scenes hard to take, together with not-needed comments from the soldiers made me slightly angry. War is bad enough without some of the bull-S**t chat ! All in all, exciting stuff, but I just felt it was a bunch of American soldiers showing off what they had done, personally I don't think it's a topic to brag about. A Big NO to war is my opinion, this film just is pretty pro war !