Research Outcome: Disinformation
How the western media and filmmakers have presented disinformation on the war in Iraq.
In 2003, the USA and other allied nations including the UK invaded Iraq. This invasion was part of the USA’s war on terror, in response to the 9/11 attacks. The current Iraq War has been going on now for nearly seven years and has been heavily reported in the media. The U.S’s motives for invading Iraq have been highly controversial.
The Bush administration’s justification for invading Iraq, was that Iraq illegally possessed weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam Hussein was harbouring and supporting al-Qaeda. After the invasion, it was discovered that in fact Iraq had ceased chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes in 1991. There have been around thirty feature films made about the Iraq War during the period the war has been taking place. This is different from other previous wars like Vietnam and World War 2, where feature films were by in large made after the event. What this blog will hope to examine is the way in which western filmmakers have presented disinformation on the Iraq War and their motives for doing so.
Film is undoubtedly a subjective medium. The choice of camera shots, editing, the actors and the script, all contribute to the subjectivity of a film. By creating a fictionalised film about the Iraq War, the filmmaker has the power to create something that reflects their own stance or agenda. One of the major reasons there have been so many films made about the current war in Iraq is the prevalent, particularly liberal, Hollywood left who are against the war. The fact that many people in Hollywood are openly against the war has led to many films being made that criticise the war. The themes, style, political and moral standpoint of these films are quite varied. Firstly, there have been several low budget action films like Conspiracy and The Marine, which simply use the Iraq War as a backdrop for highly sensationalised Rambo-esque style violence. These films take little political standpoint and bare almost no relationship to real life. There have also been several mainstream big budget Hollywood films made like, Green Zone and Body of Lies, which do moderately critique the war in Iraq. Other films such as Brian De Palma’s Redacted, are much more outright and controversial in their criticism of the war. There have also been several documentaries made about the Iraq War. The subject matter and focus in these documentaries are quite diverse, with some dealing with something as direct as the troops, while one even examines how the war has affected a heavy metal band from Baghdad. There have also been a number of films made by Italian, French, Turkish and British filmmakers.
Probably the most well known of all films about the current war in Iraq is the 2009 film, The Hurt Locker. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. Boal was previously a freelance journalist, who in 2004 was embedded with a U.S, EOD bomb squad in Iraq. The film was based on experiences that Boal had during his time in Iraq. The film has received almost unanimous praise from critics, and is certainly the most well received film about the war in Iraq to date. The film focuses on Staff
Sergeant William James, (James Renner) who joins an EOD bomb squad after their previous Staff Sergeant was killed while attempting to disarm a bomb. The of members of the EOD squad, Sergeant Sanborn and Specialist Eldridge do not approve of their new Staff Sergeant’s reckless and cavalier attitude to bomb disposal. The film is great at capturing the visceral intensity of what it must be like to be out there in Iraq. The shaky handheld cinematography helps to add a documentary style realism to the film. The fact that the film was shot in Jordan, sometimes as little as three miles from the Iraqi boarder also adds to the aesthetic realism. On arriving in Jordan, Bigelow found that there were several hundred thousand Iraqi Refugees. Many of these refugees were cast as extras and she even used some refugees with theatrical backgrounds to play tertiary roles. It could be argued that one of the films strengths is the fact that it presents an unapologetic celebration of testosterone-fuelled manliness. Many films made about the current Iraq War have tried to instil a liberal or left wing morality to their stories, The Hurt Locker however has avoided this. Boal and Bigelow’s avoidance of imposing liberal sensibilities on the film has added to the films credibility as well as giving the film a sense of cinema vérité.
Despite The Hurt Locker’s many accolades, (it won six Academy Awards) it has been criticised by some for presenting a totally unrealistic and absurd portrayal of EOD bomb squad soldiers. Many Veterans and embedded journalists who have witnessed firsthand how these soldiers really operate have criticised Staff Sergeant James’s, ‘run and gun’ cowboy attitude as ridiculous. A review in the Air Force Times cited negative reviews from bomb disposal experts, with one stating that the character of James was, “Exactly the kind of person we’re not looking for”. In some respects, the Hurt Locker does mange to present some aspects of a soldiers experience in Iraq accurately, but in others is extremely sensationalised and incorrect. Although this film does seem to avoid intentional disinformation, it ultimately does present disinformation through the Hollywood sensationalising of its characters actions.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a theme that has been dealt with in several films made about the current Iraq War. PTSD is a severe anxiety disorder that can be the result of a severe psychological trauma. It has been reported by the U.S army’s first study of mental health, that about 1 in 8 soldiers returning from Iraq have reported symptoms of PTSD. PTSD is a popular theme in films made about the Iraq War. It could be argued that this is because it’s an issue which both right and left wing America can unite on. It could also be said, that PTSD is being used by some filmmakers to make an anti-war point, by illustrating how the war in Iraq is damaging the lives of some of the soldiers who are fighting in it.
The film, In the Valley of Elah, tells the story of a military father’s search for his son, Mike, who has gone missing after returning from Iraq. The soldier’s father, Frank Deerfield, played by Tommy Lee Jones, is assisted by a police detective played by Charlize Theron. The father eventually finds his son, who has been murdered and his body mutilated and burned. The father, a former military police officer, eventually discovers that his son has been murdered by his comrades who murdered him after a seemingly insignificant quarrel. The soldier who eventually confesses to Deerfield and the police shows no remorse and se
ems emotionally detached from his words and actions. The soldier is clearly meant to be suffering from the effects of PTSD after his time in Iraq. The film is based on a story entitled, Death and Dishonour, which was also written by Mark Boal and published in Playboy magazine in 2004. It is interesting to note that the film leaves out the fact that in the actual account it is suggested that the soldier was murdered because he was possibly going to report some of his fellow soldiers for raping an Iraqi girl. If this were included in the film, it would have ruined the idea that these soldiers killed their comrade because of the mental trauma they had suffered as a result of fighting in Iraq. Once again, this is an example of how filmmakers have distorted reality to present disinformation on the Iraq war.
The film Stop Loss, released in 2008, also deals with PTSD caused by the effects of the Iraq War. The films central character is Staff Sergeant Barry King, (Ryan Phillippe) who after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq is suddenly and unexpectedly ordered to return straight away based on the militaries controversial stop-loss policy. This film seems to have been aimed at the mid-teens to late twenties age bracket, produced by MTV films and stars popular teen-movie actors, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ryan Phillippe. After experiencing the horrors of war, King decides to go AWOL rather than return to Iraq. The film depicts Phillippe’s character as he struggles with PTSD. The film also shows some of the horrors of war that King has experienced during his time in Iraq. Although Stop Loss is not as shocking and arguably more commercially orientated than, In the Valley of Elah or Redacted, it still carries a message about the Iraq War. This film seems to sit on the fence politically and is not overtly a pro or anti-war film. The film is successful in articulating the incoherent unarticulated feeling of many U.S peoples view on the war in Iraq.
The film G.I Jesus is an interesting low budget film made by director Carl Colpaert. The film was released in 2006 and won the CineVegas grand jury prize during the same year. The film focuses on the character of Jesús, a Mexican who has just returned back to the U.S after serving in Iraq in the U.S military. He enlisted in the army in order to try and get a green card for himself, his wife and his daughter. The film has an amateurish feel and contains quite a few scenes of nudity and sex. The film however is interesting, as it examines the effects PTSD has had on Jesús. We see the way Jesus’ relationships and general well being suffer as he struggles to adjust to civilian life. I think another interesting thing about this film is the fact that it’s told from the point of view of a non-American. It makes some very valid points about the current situation of American foreign policy and the situation in Iraq.
In 2007, Brian De Palma released the film Redacted. A film which is possibly the most controversial film about the Iraq war to date. The film is based on the Mahmudiyah killings. This incident involved the rape and murder of a fourteen-year-old girl and her family by five U.S soldiers in Iraq. The fil
m depicts the soldiers who in a drunken and senseless act of anger, brutally rape and murder the girl and her family in revenge of one their fellow soldier’s, who was killed by an IED. The film has received much criticism, particularly for the fact that the film fails to show that all five men were prosecuted and given life sentences. Some critics have accused the film of treason, with some suggesting that it may lead to anti-American sentiment in Iraq and elsewhere. This film was clearly made by De Palma to deliver an anti-war message about the Iraq War. De Palma has deliberately chosen to show the very darkest side of humanity that war can bring out. This is a film with a loaded message that is designed to provoke anti-war sentiment in the audience. Due to legal reason’s the names of the people and places involved have all been changed, and thus means that the audience is already being fed disinformation. De Palma tells the story of Redacted primarily though the camera of a U.S soldier’s video diary, as well as using some footage shot by a French documentary crew and CCTV cameras. By using these devices to shoot the film, De Palma is trying to create the illusion that the film is a documentary. Once again, this is an example of a filmmaker using a film to present disinformation to the audience. It is also worth noting the steady collage of real victims of the conflict, which is shown at the end of the film. The sequence very powerful and shocking, and is obviously designed to emote an audience response. The irony of Redacted is that De Palma is actually manipulating his audience while trying to make a point about the way in which we are manipulated by the various interests of the Iraq war.
Unlike in previous U.S wars, several big budget films Hollywood films have been made about the Iraq war while it was still going on. None of these films are really pro-war films and the majority are a critique on Iraq or the way the U.S government has dealt with the conflict. I think that a major reason these films have been made is the because of the resounding unpopularity of the Iraq war in Hollywood.
The most recent big budget Hollywood film to made about the Iraq war is Green Zone. The film stars Matt Damon, and cost around a hundred million dollars to make. Damon’s character, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller, is sent to Iraq to investigate areas were WMD’s (Weapons of mass destruction) are supposedly being stored. Miller and his team of men search several warehouses but find no WMD’s. Miller later discovers that the inaccurate intel he has been receiving is from anonymous source. It is later revealed that Miller’s boss, Pentagon Intelligence agent Clark Poundstone, has
lied to his superiors in Washington, telling them that there is a WMD programme in Iraq despite what Miller and other informants have said to the contrary. The film basically highlights the well-known WMD scandal, which the U.S government used as one of their justifications to invade Iraq in 2003. The character of Miller is based on real life Army Chief Warrant Officer, Richard “Monty” Gonzales who’s team were sent to Iraq during the 2003 invasion. Gonzales has criticised the film for its subtext of governmental conspiracy. This film, like so many on the Iraq War, distorts the real facts in order to make an anti-war point that questions whether America should actually be in Iraq.
There have been several documentaries made about the Iraq war, namely, Gunner Palace, Heavy Metal in Iraq and We Iraqis. The film I’m going to examine is Gunner Palace, the 2004 documentary
made by American filmmaker Michael Tucker. This documentary examines the realities of the situation in Iraq from the perspective of the U.S troops during the initial 2003-2004 invasion. The documentary looks at how the troops live, their duties and their thoughts on the war. The documentary shows that many of the troops are very young and several seem to possess below average intelligence. There is a particularly poignant scene where Tucker asks one of the soldier’s he is interviewing whether he has ever fired his weapon? The soldier replies that he has once, but it was by accident. This statement really doesn’t instil trust in the capabilities of the U.S troops in Iraq. We also witness some of the troops performing raps, trying to kill a rat in their dormitory and even relaxing in the swimming pool of Saddam’s son Uday’s palace. The film is successful in presenting a portrait of what it was like for the troops during the 2003-2004 period of the invasion. Tucker does use several devices designed to influence the audience. Firstly, the choice of music is interesting, as he often uses heavy metal music to increase the intensity of some of the scenes where the soldiers are on patrol. It is also important to note that Tucker has chosen the images for his finished film from probably hundreds of hours of film. By selectively editing the film Tucker can greatly influence the audiences perception of what they are seeing.
It has been suggested by many viewers and critics that the film Avatar is actually a metaphor for the Iraq War. This epic sci-fi film is set some time in the 22nd century and tells the story of a military human force who invade the distant planet of Pandora in order to mine the precious mineral called Unobtainium. The idea of an invading foreign force who want to mine a precious mineral could be seen as a metaphor for the U.S armies invasion of Iraq in order to be able to control oil supplies there. The film examines the effect that an invading force can have on the people and ecology of that place. It an indirect way, the film has clearly been designed by Cameron to make the audience think about the situation in Iraq. I think it is also important to say that for the vast majority of the audience, the anti-war message will be completely missed or ignored as they really just want to go to see the film to be entertained.
The Turkish film, Valley of the Wolves is interesting to look at as it is the first film I have talked about that was made by a non-western filmmaker. The film was made by Serdar Akar and is based on a popular Turkish television series of the same name. The film opens with a real-life incident were eleven Turkish Special Forces soldiers were arrested by U.S troops in the northern Iraqi Kurdistan town of Sulayahmaniyah. The soldiers were led out of their headquarters at gunpoint, with hoods over their heads, before being detained for another 60 hours. U.S secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld issued an apology, but the incident angered many Turks. In the film, one of the Turkish Special Forces commits suicide as he can’t take the shame of the hooding. The soldier’s friend is an assassin who travels to Iraq to seek vengeance for his friend by killing the U.S army commander who shamed him. This film is clearly anti-American and presents a very negative view of America’s war in Iraq. It is interesting to note how popular the film has been in Turkey and just goes to demonstrate the anti-American feeling which is prevalent in many parts of the world.
In conclusion I feels that every single film that has been made about the Iraq War so far does bare the mark of the filmmakers own viewpoint and in someway is presenting the audience with disinformation. With the Iraq War now winding down, it will be interesting to note what stance future films on the Iraq War take.
How the western media and filmmakers have presented disinformation on the war in Iraq.
In 2003, the USA and other allied nations including the UK invaded Iraq. This invasion was part of the USA’s war on terror, in response to the 9/11 attacks. The current Iraq War has been going on now for nearly seven years and has been heavily reported in the media. The U.S’s motives for invading Iraq have been highly controversial.
The Bush administration’s justification for invading Iraq, was that Iraq illegally possessed weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam Hussein was harbouring and supporting al-Qaeda. After the invasion, it was discovered that in fact Iraq had ceased chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes in 1991. There have been around thirty feature films made about the Iraq War during the period the war has been taking place. This is different from other previous wars like Vietnam and World War 2, where feature films were by in large made after the event. What this blog will hope to examine is the way in which western filmmakers have presented disinformation on the Iraq War and their motives for doing so.Film is undoubtedly a subjective medium. The choice of camera shots, editing, the actors and the script, all contribute to the subjectivity of a film. By creating a fictionalised film about the Iraq War, the filmmaker has the power to create something that reflects their own stance or agenda. One of the major reasons there have been so many films made about the current war in Iraq is the prevalent, particularly liberal, Hollywood left who are against the war. The fact that many people in Hollywood are openly against the war has led to many films being made that criticise the war. The themes, style, political and moral standpoint of these films are quite varied. Firstly, there have been several low budget action films like Conspiracy and The Marine, which simply use the Iraq War as a backdrop for highly sensationalised Rambo-esque style violence. These films take little political standpoint and bare almost no relationship to real life. There have also been several mainstream big budget Hollywood films made like, Green Zone and Body of Lies, which do moderately critique the war in Iraq. Other films such as Brian De Palma’s Redacted, are much more outright and controversial in their criticism of the war. There have also been several documentaries made about the Iraq War. The subject matter and focus in these documentaries are quite diverse, with some dealing with something as direct as the troops, while one even examines how the war has affected a heavy metal band from Baghdad. There have also been a number of films made by Italian, French, Turkish and British filmmakers.
Probably the most well known of all films about the current war in Iraq is the 2009 film, The Hurt Locker. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. Boal was previously a freelance journalist, who in 2004 was embedded with a U.S, EOD bomb squad in Iraq. The film was based on experiences that Boal had during his time in Iraq. The film has received almost unanimous praise from critics, and is certainly the most well received film about the war in Iraq to date. The film focuses on Staff
Sergeant William James, (James Renner) who joins an EOD bomb squad after their previous Staff Sergeant was killed while attempting to disarm a bomb. The of members of the EOD squad, Sergeant Sanborn and Specialist Eldridge do not approve of their new Staff Sergeant’s reckless and cavalier attitude to bomb disposal. The film is great at capturing the visceral intensity of what it must be like to be out there in Iraq. The shaky handheld cinematography helps to add a documentary style realism to the film. The fact that the film was shot in Jordan, sometimes as little as three miles from the Iraqi boarder also adds to the aesthetic realism. On arriving in Jordan, Bigelow found that there were several hundred thousand Iraqi Refugees. Many of these refugees were cast as extras and she even used some refugees with theatrical backgrounds to play tertiary roles. It could be argued that one of the films strengths is the fact that it presents an unapologetic celebration of testosterone-fuelled manliness. Many films made about the current Iraq War have tried to instil a liberal or left wing morality to their stories, The Hurt Locker however has avoided this. Boal and Bigelow’s avoidance of imposing liberal sensibilities on the film has added to the films credibility as well as giving the film a sense of cinema vérité.Despite The Hurt Locker’s many accolades, (it won six Academy Awards) it has been criticised by some for presenting a totally unrealistic and absurd portrayal of EOD bomb squad soldiers. Many Veterans and embedded journalists who have witnessed firsthand how these soldiers really operate have criticised Staff Sergeant James’s, ‘run and gun’ cowboy attitude as ridiculous. A review in the Air Force Times cited negative reviews from bomb disposal experts, with one stating that the character of James was, “Exactly the kind of person we’re not looking for”. In some respects, the Hurt Locker does mange to present some aspects of a soldiers experience in Iraq accurately, but in others is extremely sensationalised and incorrect. Although this film does seem to avoid intentional disinformation, it ultimately does present disinformation through the Hollywood sensationalising of its characters actions.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a theme that has been dealt with in several films made about the current Iraq War. PTSD is a severe anxiety disorder that can be the result of a severe psychological trauma. It has been reported by the U.S army’s first study of mental health, that about 1 in 8 soldiers returning from Iraq have reported symptoms of PTSD. PTSD is a popular theme in films made about the Iraq War. It could be argued that this is because it’s an issue which both right and left wing America can unite on. It could also be said, that PTSD is being used by some filmmakers to make an anti-war point, by illustrating how the war in Iraq is damaging the lives of some of the soldiers who are fighting in it.
The film, In the Valley of Elah, tells the story of a military father’s search for his son, Mike, who has gone missing after returning from Iraq. The soldier’s father, Frank Deerfield, played by Tommy Lee Jones, is assisted by a police detective played by Charlize Theron. The father eventually finds his son, who has been murdered and his body mutilated and burned. The father, a former military police officer, eventually discovers that his son has been murdered by his comrades who murdered him after a seemingly insignificant quarrel. The soldier who eventually confesses to Deerfield and the police shows no remorse and se
ems emotionally detached from his words and actions. The soldier is clearly meant to be suffering from the effects of PTSD after his time in Iraq. The film is based on a story entitled, Death and Dishonour, which was also written by Mark Boal and published in Playboy magazine in 2004. It is interesting to note that the film leaves out the fact that in the actual account it is suggested that the soldier was murdered because he was possibly going to report some of his fellow soldiers for raping an Iraqi girl. If this were included in the film, it would have ruined the idea that these soldiers killed their comrade because of the mental trauma they had suffered as a result of fighting in Iraq. Once again, this is an example of how filmmakers have distorted reality to present disinformation on the Iraq war.The film Stop Loss, released in 2008, also deals with PTSD caused by the effects of the Iraq War. The films central character is Staff Sergeant Barry King, (Ryan Phillippe) who after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq is suddenly and unexpectedly ordered to return straight away based on the militaries controversial stop-loss policy. This film seems to have been aimed at the mid-teens to late twenties age bracket, produced by MTV films and stars popular teen-movie actors, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ryan Phillippe. After experiencing the horrors of war, King decides to go AWOL rather than return to Iraq. The film depicts Phillippe’s character as he struggles with PTSD. The film also shows some of the horrors of war that King has experienced during his time in Iraq. Although Stop Loss is not as shocking and arguably more commercially orientated than, In the Valley of Elah or Redacted, it still carries a message about the Iraq War. This film seems to sit on the fence politically and is not overtly a pro or anti-war film. The film is successful in articulating the incoherent unarticulated feeling of many U.S peoples view on the war in Iraq.
The film G.I Jesus is an interesting low budget film made by director Carl Colpaert. The film was released in 2006 and won the CineVegas grand jury prize during the same year. The film focuses on the character of Jesús, a Mexican who has just returned back to the U.S after serving in Iraq in the U.S military. He enlisted in the army in order to try and get a green card for himself, his wife and his daughter. The film has an amateurish feel and contains quite a few scenes of nudity and sex. The film however is interesting, as it examines the effects PTSD has had on Jesús. We see the way Jesus’ relationships and general well being suffer as he struggles to adjust to civilian life. I think another interesting thing about this film is the fact that it’s told from the point of view of a non-American. It makes some very valid points about the current situation of American foreign policy and the situation in Iraq.
In 2007, Brian De Palma released the film Redacted. A film which is possibly the most controversial film about the Iraq war to date. The film is based on the Mahmudiyah killings. This incident involved the rape and murder of a fourteen-year-old girl and her family by five U.S soldiers in Iraq. The fil
m depicts the soldiers who in a drunken and senseless act of anger, brutally rape and murder the girl and her family in revenge of one their fellow soldier’s, who was killed by an IED. The film has received much criticism, particularly for the fact that the film fails to show that all five men were prosecuted and given life sentences. Some critics have accused the film of treason, with some suggesting that it may lead to anti-American sentiment in Iraq and elsewhere. This film was clearly made by De Palma to deliver an anti-war message about the Iraq War. De Palma has deliberately chosen to show the very darkest side of humanity that war can bring out. This is a film with a loaded message that is designed to provoke anti-war sentiment in the audience. Due to legal reason’s the names of the people and places involved have all been changed, and thus means that the audience is already being fed disinformation. De Palma tells the story of Redacted primarily though the camera of a U.S soldier’s video diary, as well as using some footage shot by a French documentary crew and CCTV cameras. By using these devices to shoot the film, De Palma is trying to create the illusion that the film is a documentary. Once again, this is an example of a filmmaker using a film to present disinformation to the audience. It is also worth noting the steady collage of real victims of the conflict, which is shown at the end of the film. The sequence very powerful and shocking, and is obviously designed to emote an audience response. The irony of Redacted is that De Palma is actually manipulating his audience while trying to make a point about the way in which we are manipulated by the various interests of the Iraq war.Unlike in previous U.S wars, several big budget films Hollywood films have been made about the Iraq war while it was still going on. None of these films are really pro-war films and the majority are a critique on Iraq or the way the U.S government has dealt with the conflict. I think that a major reason these films have been made is the because of the resounding unpopularity of the Iraq war in Hollywood.
The most recent big budget Hollywood film to made about the Iraq war is Green Zone. The film stars Matt Damon, and cost around a hundred million dollars to make. Damon’s character, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller, is sent to Iraq to investigate areas were WMD’s (Weapons of mass destruction) are supposedly being stored. Miller and his team of men search several warehouses but find no WMD’s. Miller later discovers that the inaccurate intel he has been receiving is from anonymous source. It is later revealed that Miller’s boss, Pentagon Intelligence agent Clark Poundstone, has
lied to his superiors in Washington, telling them that there is a WMD programme in Iraq despite what Miller and other informants have said to the contrary. The film basically highlights the well-known WMD scandal, which the U.S government used as one of their justifications to invade Iraq in 2003. The character of Miller is based on real life Army Chief Warrant Officer, Richard “Monty” Gonzales who’s team were sent to Iraq during the 2003 invasion. Gonzales has criticised the film for its subtext of governmental conspiracy. This film, like so many on the Iraq War, distorts the real facts in order to make an anti-war point that questions whether America should actually be in Iraq.There have been several documentaries made about the Iraq war, namely, Gunner Palace, Heavy Metal in Iraq and We Iraqis. The film I’m going to examine is Gunner Palace, the 2004 documentary
made by American filmmaker Michael Tucker. This documentary examines the realities of the situation in Iraq from the perspective of the U.S troops during the initial 2003-2004 invasion. The documentary looks at how the troops live, their duties and their thoughts on the war. The documentary shows that many of the troops are very young and several seem to possess below average intelligence. There is a particularly poignant scene where Tucker asks one of the soldier’s he is interviewing whether he has ever fired his weapon? The soldier replies that he has once, but it was by accident. This statement really doesn’t instil trust in the capabilities of the U.S troops in Iraq. We also witness some of the troops performing raps, trying to kill a rat in their dormitory and even relaxing in the swimming pool of Saddam’s son Uday’s palace. The film is successful in presenting a portrait of what it was like for the troops during the 2003-2004 period of the invasion. Tucker does use several devices designed to influence the audience. Firstly, the choice of music is interesting, as he often uses heavy metal music to increase the intensity of some of the scenes where the soldiers are on patrol. It is also important to note that Tucker has chosen the images for his finished film from probably hundreds of hours of film. By selectively editing the film Tucker can greatly influence the audiences perception of what they are seeing.It has been suggested by many viewers and critics that the film Avatar is actually a metaphor for the Iraq War. This epic sci-fi film is set some time in the 22nd century and tells the story of a military human force who invade the distant planet of Pandora in order to mine the precious mineral called Unobtainium. The idea of an invading foreign force who want to mine a precious mineral could be seen as a metaphor for the U.S armies invasion of Iraq in order to be able to control oil supplies there. The film examines the effect that an invading force can have on the people and ecology of that place. It an indirect way, the film has clearly been designed by Cameron to make the audience think about the situation in Iraq. I think it is also important to say that for the vast majority of the audience, the anti-war message will be completely missed or ignored as they really just want to go to see the film to be entertained.
The Turkish film, Valley of the Wolves is interesting to look at as it is the first film I have talked about that was made by a non-western filmmaker. The film was made by Serdar Akar and is based on a popular Turkish television series of the same name. The film opens with a real-life incident were eleven Turkish Special Forces soldiers were arrested by U.S troops in the northern Iraqi Kurdistan town of Sulayahmaniyah. The soldiers were led out of their headquarters at gunpoint, with hoods over their heads, before being detained for another 60 hours. U.S secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld issued an apology, but the incident angered many Turks. In the film, one of the Turkish Special Forces commits suicide as he can’t take the shame of the hooding. The soldier’s friend is an assassin who travels to Iraq to seek vengeance for his friend by killing the U.S army commander who shamed him. This film is clearly anti-American and presents a very negative view of America’s war in Iraq. It is interesting to note how popular the film has been in Turkey and just goes to demonstrate the anti-American feeling which is prevalent in many parts of the world.
In conclusion I feels that every single film that has been made about the Iraq War so far does bare the mark of the filmmakers own viewpoint and in someway is presenting the audience with disinformation. With the Iraq War now winding down, it will be interesting to note what stance future films on the Iraq War take.
