Decent enough of a film. It's being called a "Western" instead of a war movie -- if so, it's a Western with an attempt at a conscience.
I appreciated the brief acknowledgements of the devastation caused by the Iraqi invasion, looting and burning of Kuwait, including its environment, although incredibly more destruction resulted than just a few birds dying agonizingly in tar pits. I was happily surprised that the film blew the "collateral damage" myth out of the water -- the American press, which was totally muzzled by the U. S. Army throughout the conflict, bought right into that lie, so its citizens didn't have to fret over the civilian toll of U. S. bombs on Iraq. Islam was treated with uncharacteristic respect for an American film. The irony of the U. S. having previously equipped the Iraqi army (including training it in torture techniques) during the Iran-Iraq war was nicely noted.
Finally, it was quite unexpected that a Hollywood film would tell the truth about the cynical U. S. government encouragement given to the Iraqi people to rise up against Saddam Hussein -- these people did rise up and are still paying the price for their betrayal by the indecisive Mr. George Bush, who apparently thought Kuwaiti oil (and a few hundred autocratic Kuwaiti oil sheikhs) were pretty important, but a few million ordinary Shiites in Iraq were not. They were left hanging -- thousands of them quite literally -- as a consequence.
The acting was fair to good, but not IMHO "Oscar material" as some people are suggesting, and the film can't compare on any level with "Besieged", "Eyes Wide Shut" or "American Beauty" as far as Academy Awards go. Oops, there I go again, imagining that the voters for the awards have functioning brains... Sorry.
The Hollywood ending cost the film some points in my rating -- without spoiling the ending for those who haven't seen it, I'll just say the finale was unrealistic. Also, it's tiring to have so many films telling you what happened to the protagonists after the end of the story ("Joe Blow now sells real estate in Guatemala", etc.).
Worth seeing; 7 out of 10.
I appreciated the brief acknowledgements of the devastation caused by the Iraqi invasion, looting and burning of Kuwait, including its environment, although incredibly more destruction resulted than just a few birds dying agonizingly in tar pits. I was happily surprised that the film blew the "collateral damage" myth out of the water -- the American press, which was totally muzzled by the U. S. Army throughout the conflict, bought right into that lie, so its citizens didn't have to fret over the civilian toll of U. S. bombs on Iraq. Islam was treated with uncharacteristic respect for an American film. The irony of the U. S. having previously equipped the Iraqi army (including training it in torture techniques) during the Iran-Iraq war was nicely noted.
Finally, it was quite unexpected that a Hollywood film would tell the truth about the cynical U. S. government encouragement given to the Iraqi people to rise up against Saddam Hussein -- these people did rise up and are still paying the price for their betrayal by the indecisive Mr. George Bush, who apparently thought Kuwaiti oil (and a few hundred autocratic Kuwaiti oil sheikhs) were pretty important, but a few million ordinary Shiites in Iraq were not. They were left hanging -- thousands of them quite literally -- as a consequence.
The acting was fair to good, but not IMHO "Oscar material" as some people are suggesting, and the film can't compare on any level with "Besieged", "Eyes Wide Shut" or "American Beauty" as far as Academy Awards go. Oops, there I go again, imagining that the voters for the awards have functioning brains... Sorry.
The Hollywood ending cost the film some points in my rating -- without spoiling the ending for those who haven't seen it, I'll just say the finale was unrealistic. Also, it's tiring to have so many films telling you what happened to the protagonists after the end of the story ("Joe Blow now sells real estate in Guatemala", etc.).
Worth seeing; 7 out of 10.