I went down to Tribeca to screen The War Tapes last Saturday, a ridiculously sunny blue-sky day, the kind of day where it hurts not to wear sunglasses. But the technicolor ended abruptly, giving way to a dark and utterly disturbing documentary brimming with searing footage of U.S. solidiers in Iraq, IED attacks (Improvised Explosive Devices), car bombings, dead bodies, carnage. On this bright day just a few blocks away, thousands of anti-war protesters were marching in the streets as U.S. casualties in Iraq nearly 70 during the month of April.
Director and filmmaker Deborah Scranton was invited to embed with a unit of the New Hampshire National Guard. Instead of going on the mission herself, she decided to supply 10 soldiers with digital video cameras so they could document their war experiences, everything from the mundane realities (flanking "poop trucks" full of dirty sewage from the base) and shopping at the PX at Camp Anaconda, to walking into IED attacks and encountering the body of an Iraqi girl who ran out into the road in front of a convoy.
The documentary is filmed and narrated by the soldiers themselves; it features three stories in particular, along with that of a wife and girlfriend whose poignant narratives reveal deep-seated contradictions, frustration, rage, and confusion over the war and their place in it. Scranton worked with nearly 800 hours of footage from the soldiers' year-long deployment in Iraq and 200 hours shot at home in the U.S.
On camera, the soldiers talk about what the war is really about, and why the enlisted. Stephen Pink gives it to us straight: "We're in Iraq for money and oil. We're not here for democracy." The soldiers discuss on camera the fact that KBR Halliburton (Vice President Dick Cheney's friends) runs everything in Iraq from the infrastructure, natural resource management, food, and shelter. They joke amongst themselves that sometimes they're just guarding cheesecake as Nora Ephron's incisive post on the film elaborates.
The women of The War Tapes are a study in human pathos. Sana, the mother of Zack Bazzi, tells the camera that for 16 months her head was filled with Iraq. "Go to bed - Iraq, wake up - Iraq." Bazzi, a Lebanese-American who speaks Arabic, is a career solider (he's served for 8 years) and is now a student at the University of New Hampshire. He has no regrets about his service, "the military has benefits. I go to school because of the Army," Bazzi told the audience during a Q&A after the screening. He loves being a solider, he says, and has signed up for another year of service; he could be summoned for another tour of duty at any time. At the same time, Bazzi thinks "a good American will always love their country and be suspicious of their country."
Michael Moriarty's wife Randi is left at home with two small kids. Once Mike returns home, hobbled by a variety of ailments and resurgent anger that had been in check prior to his deployment, he wants Randi to "understand what he's been through." Randi says she'll "never understand", adding that she also wants Mike to understand what she went through at home.
Lindsay Coletti, Stephen Pink's girlfriend, knows he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and feels in her gut that things aren't right with him, but he won't acknowledge it. Of the film, Coletti told me, "It's not pro-war or anti-war. It's just a story about 3 soldiers." Pink, who has decided not to re-enlist, says the U.S. government should try harder to better educate soldiers about the Muslim culture before they get to Iraq.
The War Tapes is a must-see, chilling, no-holds-barred piece of storytelling that pulls no punches. The three soldiers featured in the film are a metaphor for the many contradictions of the war. The War Tapes is probably the most raw documentary I have ever seen and left me shaken and confused, mulling the contradictions and reasons as to why the U.S. is in Iraq at all. It also left me more empathetic to the people who are doing hard time in Iraq, risking their lives and family life. It certainly made me more appreciative of their sacrifices. These men were brave. They've done their part and as Moriarty says, "I will not go back. I have done my part, it's someone else's turn. We need to support what it takes to make this thing work, or shut up."
Kudos to Scranton, Producers Robert May, Steve James, and Chuck Lacy for their fine effort to bring the war in Iraq to the surface and into the consciousness of many Americans who have turned away from the ongoing suffering and devastation of civilian Iraqis and the U.S. troops. But the most significant praise goes to Stephen Pink, Zack Bazzi, and Michael Moriarty for their sacrifices, and to the women who waited for them and who continue to support them. Forget about embedding journalists in Iraq or other war zones--a soldier's truth is infinitely more real and compelling.
Check out the film's web site, which features a blog, video clips, and more.