The War Tapes
by Deborah Scranton
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DVD details
Actor: Ben Flanders, Brandon Wilkins, Mike Moriarity, Steve Pink (II), Zack BazziDirector: Deborah Scranton
Brand: New Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Arabic (Original Language); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 97 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-05-15
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Docurama
DVD Reviews of The War Tapes
DVD Review: The War Tapes
Summary: 1 Stars
I only gave it a one for three reasons.
First off one of the soldiers makes the claim that Halliburton makes 24 bucks a plate, even if empty, with nothing to back this claim. It's probably nothing more than a made up story. He lost all credablility with me when he then made the claim that Dick Cheney runs Halliburon and is making money off this war. He needs to be educated because Dick Cheney quit Halliburton in 2000.
Second the Muslim guy in this film annoys me. It's the typical sympathize with the enemy attitude that I cant stand. First he tries to make a comparison that makes no sense. He says what if Canada invaded the USA, I'm sure lots of Bush lovers would pick up their guns and fight back. Ok let's get this straight. First off if Canada invaded I would kill Canadians, not my own people in the markets and churches. Those people are not trying to liberate their country, they are trying to cause choas and kill their own people, women and children. Second Saddam was a war criminal who gased his own people and is responsible for chemicals getting thousands of our soldiers sick in the first gulf war. There is no comparsion. His typical, "I side with my people" attitude sickens me and turned me off from the film.
Third, there is hardly any action. If you want to see an action film, this is not for you. It's more complaining than anything.
DVD Review: An amazing feat of truth- and story-telling
Summary: 5 Stars
The idea behind The War Tapes is simple enough: give video recorders to a handful of NH National Guardsmen on their way to Iraq, then edit the results into something worth viewing. The project could have been a disaster, yielding nothing but prosaic (or worse) self-congratulatory nonsense that would have been hell to watch. Instead, the men whose footage made it into the film provided insights far deeper than many of are accustomed to watching. The men show themselves and their comrade posturing nervously as they prepare for battle. Once in Iraq, they begin to realize just how the war is being waged. They experience the ever-present threat of IEDs, the plight of civilians caught between sides. Tellingly, they experience the absurdities of war -- a night spent guarding a shipment of cheesecakes, offers of homegrown cigarettes and pornography from the locals, a graveyard of trucks and equipment blown apart by explosives, each wreck telling a story.
The home front is shown as well. The men's wives, mothers and children must deal with the prolonged absence of the men from home, and hope they will come back alive and reasonably sane. When the men do return, they face the complexities of reintegrating with their old lives. What do you say when one day you are dodging enemy bullets and the next you are sitting on your Mom's living room? What's it like to commute to work when the roadside has held such horrors?
The War Tapes is a masterful piece of editing. To craft unplanned footage from several uncoordinated cameras into a coherent tale -- avoiding glamorizing the war or becoming a polemic against it -- shows remarkable trust in the soldier's experiences. The soldiers need to be commended as well for allowing themselves to be filmed expressing every emotion from loyalty to disgust to bravado to self-doubt. The War Tapes is an incredible accounting of the realities of the experience of fighting in Iraq. A masterpiece of reporting that far outstrips any of the embedded "reporting" done by the networks or cable channels.
DVD Review: RAW & UNCUT..The best Documentary on IRAQ Conflict
Summary: 5 Stars
RAW & UNCUT..The best Documentary on IRAQ Conflict. Follow in the footsteps and experience the truth behind the soldiers and the conflict.DVD Review: Reality check
Summary: 5 Stars
I just saw this on the military channel and am buying the DVD.
Brilliant telling of a very human story. Great Americans, by which I mean honest decent men, with strong convictions, performing a nasty mission on behalf of their country and more importantly their fellow soldiers. You can't go through their experience without being changed in fundamental ways, and you see the immediate and long term costs of what some people debate on a policy level, but which ultimately manifests in the lives and families of these brave, scared, lonely, decent men. They are in my prayers as they go forward, trying to make meaning of it all, and carrying on with their lives. As a retired career soldier myself, I found myself reliving my own memories of hell and boredom, frustration and fear, and the odd moments of joy and humor. They have done an awesome job of expressing the unexpressable. I admire their courage in letting us see themselves in the moment.
The story is told with integrity and honesty, and without apology, and for that I am grateful. Anyone who thinks war is honorable is nuts, although there are elements of honor in it. Anyone who thinks it's glory and policy are wrong, although there are elements of glory and policy in it. It's also heartwrenching accidents and indelible events and human prices that keep getting paid. It's tied to the dark side of human nature and will be with us as long as we are the half animal/half noble spirit that is humankind. I pray that our consciousness survives. it's only through these shared stories and truths that consciousness may win. Without understanding there can be no compassion and empathy, and ultimately that's what it takes for love and peace to thrive.
i wish these brave soldiers well, and want them to know how many people DO understand their sacrifice and courage and conviction. we need more voices like this to inform the public debate on monumental decisions that commit our people to war
Sincerely,
ken long
LTC, US Army (ret) (CIB)
Leavenworth, Kansas
DVD Review: The Soldier's Perspective
Summary: 3 Stars
Having grown up in a career military family, I must applaud this film. The fact that it was commissioned and sponsored by the U.S. Army National Guard is a positive sign that the military is attempting to ease the transition of fighting troops back into normal civilian life.
What are the messages of this film? According to the Extra Features:
1) Understand what we soldiers have been through in service to our country.
2) We were sent to Iraq to kill people. Right or wrong, that was our mission, and we did it to the best of our ability. Judge us on that basis.
3) Support our troops without asking whether the Iraq War was necessary. That question only demoralizes us and makes our job more difficult.
4) Don't blame us the way you did the Vietnam veterans. We are all wounded warriors, emotionally if not physically. Welcome us home as heroes.
I served in the Army as a medic during the Vietnam conflict. When I returned home from overseas, I was confused and depressed for six months. I needed to talk with my family about what I had experienced, but no one seemed to understand or even wanted to listen. The soldiers in this film said it was very helpful for their families in understanding "why I am the way I am since I returned."
This film may not be considered a true "documentary" in the sense that the cameramen said all the tapes were turned over to Command for their editing and approval. The sergeant described that when he started thinking of himself as a photojournalist and asking other soldiers what they thought about apparently inane orders on camera, his commander called him in and warned him these were actions unbecoming a non-commissioned officer.
If you are looking for a film that says "The Iraqis are real people and they are suffering too," this is not it. But this film supports the troops without question, helps their families to understand what they went through for us, and they deserve this and a lot more from the American public.
Description of The War Tapes
Directed by Deborah Scranton, and produced by Robert May (The Fog of War) and Steve James (Hoop Dreams), THE WAR TAPES is Operation Iraqi Freedom as filmed by Sergeant Steve Pink, Sergeant Zack Bazzi, and Specialist Mark Moriarty. Steve is a wisecracking carpenter who aspires to be a writer. Zack is a Lebanese-American university student who loves to travel and is fluent in Arabic. Mike is a father and resolute patriot who rejoined the Army after 9/11. These soldiers captured over 800 hours of footage, providing a glimpse of their lives in the midst of war. The result is a raw portrait of three men--and their families--as they face, and struggle to understand, their duty.Reduced from some 800 hours of raw footage to one compelling, 96-minute film, The War Tapes, while not the first documentary about U.S. soldiers deployed in Iraq (cf. 2006's Off to War, which covers similar ground), is unusual insofar as it was shot entirely by men on active duty in Iraq--specifically three National Guardsmen (or "citizen soldiers," as they call themselves) from New Hampshire who served in that benighted country in 2004. The three are by no means alike. Spc. Mike Moriarty is a patriot who, much to the dismay of his family, re-enlisted after 9/11 and frankly hopes to be "someone's hero." Sgt. Steve Pink is motor-mouthed wiseacre who grows increasingly cynical as his tour plays out. Sgt. Zack Bazzi, a Lebanese-American who speaks fluent Arabic, reads The Nation and doesn't much care for George W. Bush, but is nonetheless ready to fight. Yet despite their differences, their experiences are similarly grim. After some training at home, we see them arrive in the Mideast, where the first words they hear are, "Welcome to Iraq. Only one year to go," followed shortly by a mortar explosion near Camp Anaconda, their base. Thereafter, we see them in a variety of settings: in Baghdad and Fallujah, on the road (their duties include escorting truck convoys), fighting insurgents (several of the battle scenes are very intense and fairly graphic), in the camp cafeteria (where one of them excoriates Halliburton, who seems to have a hand in every aspect of the war effort, for charging the government $28 for a single styrofoam plate), in their quarters (their idea of recreation is staging a death match between a scorpion and a spider), and so on; we also visit their families back in New Hampshire. What emerges from all of this is a striking portrait of bitterness, resignation, and outright hostility, especially towards Iraqis on both sides. Moriarty perhaps sums it up most succinctly when they return to the States: "I'm so glad I went. I hated it with a god-awful passion, and I will not go back... I've done my part... It's someone else's turn." Nearly two hours of bonus material includes extended outtakes and extra footage, follow-up interviews with the three soldiers, and more. --Sam Graham
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