| |
 OPPOSITION TO THE IRAQ WAR FINALLY REACHES THE SCREEN--TWICE!
 The horrific complexity of the current conflict in Iraq (referred to as “the situation”) is depicted in The Situation, directed by Philip Haas, largely through the eyes of an American journalist, Anna Moiyneux (played by Connie Nielsen), who sleeps for information with Dan Murphy (played by Damian Lewis), a lower-level American diplomat, and Zaid (Mido Hamada), her translator/photographer. At the beginning of the film, two sixteen-year-old Iraqi boys are walking toward a bridge in Samara that is being guarded by a squad of American soldiers. After a soldier objects that they are out past the nighttime curfew, they fail to react because they evidently do not understand English, whereupon the soldier dumps them in the river below. One dies, unable to swim, and the other swims, eventually telling Anna the true story, which of course is in conflict with the official version. Her effort to find the truth then serves to reveal to filmviewers the many layers of Iraq’s chaos, including (1) total opposition to the American maladroit presence, (2) the need for a dictator to bring stability, (3) the absurdity of promoting democracy amid chaos, (4) unemployment of former technocrats and bureaucrats who are in the process of leaving the country, (5) Iraqis cynically trying to build a power base by cozying up to the Americans in order to get money to pay the unemployed as henchmen, (6) the untenability of neutrality in a highly polarized conflict, (7) oversimplified views of Americans in the Green Zone, (8) luxurious living by Americans in the Green Zone, (9) the precariousness of life under the roar of helicopters and gunfire in the Red Zone, (10) excesses of American troops, (11) the many sources of violence, including revenge killing, insurgency and counterinsurgency, criminal activity, and sectarian rivalry, (12) the futility of economic reconstruction, (13) lack of electricity and other forms of infrastructure, (14) gas rationing in a country rich with oil, (15) police as sectarian death squads, and (16) a younger generation nurtured on the normality of everyday violence. The Political Film Society, which was established to honor films that raise political consciousness, accordingly nominates The Situation as best film exposé of 2007 as well as best film to demonstrate the need for peaceful methods for resolving conflicts.
|
G.I. Jesús, directed by Carl Colpaert, is the second anti-war film about Iraq. The movie focuses on Jesús Feliciano (played by Joe Arquette), who returns home to a trailer park outside Los Angeles from a tour of duty in Iraq with one month of leave before redeployment. He suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome, as illustrated by flashbacks to his service in Iraq as well as conversations with Mohammed (played by Maurizio Farhad), an imaginary Iraqi. The conversations, observed by his daughter Marina (played by Telana Lynum) and his spouse Claudia (played by Patrícia Mota), make clear that Jesús harbors a lot of guilt for killing the innocent spouse and child of an innocent Iraqi physician. Meanwhile, he learns that Claudia has been carrying on with Sean (played by Mark Cameron Wystrach); unknown to Jesús, Sean actually proposes to Claudia, who declines the offer to relocate from the trailer park to an upscale Brentwood home. Jesús also dreams that he receives $10,000 in cash from a general who recruits him for a secret CIA operation in South America that is scheduled to leave in two, not four, weeks. His wife’s infidelity, redeployment that might imperil his marriage, his nightmares, and imaginary people finally get to Jesús. Although promised American citizenship for his enlistment in the Marines as a Mexican national, the pressure is obviously too onerous, and his ultimate solution to the problem is the only one feasible. G.I. Jesús can serve as a paradigm for many American soldiers who return home from the quagmire in Iraq. MH
POLLS ARE OPEN FOR POLITICAL FILM SOCIETY AWARDS FOR 2006
The ballot asks members to accept the top film in each category by February 28. The Executive Board will meet at 8481 Allenwood Road, Los Angeles, on March 1 at 8 p.m. to count ballots.
|
|
