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Full Battle Rattle (2007)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 30
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 8

Full Battle Rattle is an insightful, eye-opening account of the preparations soldiers must make for their service in Iraq.

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 2

Full Battle Rattle is an insightful, eye-opening account of the preparations soldiers must make for their service in Iraq.

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Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 228

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Movie Info

Before American soldiers are deployed to Iraq, they're given special training at the National Training Center on the Ft. Irwin Military Reservation, located in California's Mojave Desert. The National Training Center has constructed a simulated Iraqi village called Medina Wasl in the desert, where new soldiers battle "insurgents" (played by returning U.S. troops) and interact with "ordinary citizens" (many portrayed by Iraqi exiles who've ended up in the United States) as they learn the ins and

Unrated, 1 hr. 32 min.

Documentary, Special Interest

Directed By: Jesse Moss , Tony Gerber

In Theaters: Feb 9, 2008 Wide

On DVD: Sep 22, 2009

Full Battle Rattle Trailer & Photos

Critic Reviews for Full Battle Rattle

All Critics (30) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (23) | Rotten (9) | DVD (2)

A docu about modern war games in the California desert contains little insight into the Iraq War.

October 18, 2008 Comment

Kirk Honeycutt

Hollywood Reporter

Top Critic

A so-so pic on an incendiary subject.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Eddie Cockrell

Variety

Top Critic

One of the many surreal aspects of this fabulously disorienting movie: its representation of an Iraqi heaven that's an American hell.

July 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Village Voice

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J. Hoberman

Village Voice

Top Critic

Just when I thought I had heard everything about the war in Iraq, along comes Full Battle Rattle.

July 9, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Post

| Comment

V.A. Musetto

New York Post

Top Critic

This documentary gives a remarkably thorough and detailed account of the difficult conditions facing American soldiers in Iraq.

July 9, 2008 Comment

A.O. Scott

New York Times

Top Critic

The film is freaky, amusing, and sickening in equal measures -- part fly-on-the-wall v�rit�, part multiple-perspective Altmanesque tragicomedy.

July 7, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Magazine

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David Edelstein

New York Magazine

Top Critic

GIs play simulated war games in Mojave Desert documentary. Who knew?

October 8, 2009 Full Review Source: Sly Fox

| Comment

Kam Williams

Sly Fox

Fake or real, Full Battle Rattle just doesn't cut it.

September 15, 2009 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment

Ed Gonzalez

Slant Magazine

Somewhere in the Mohave Desert, the U.S. military maintains a large rural compound that contains several fake Iraqi towns. It's Disneyland for war games

June 27, 2009 Full Review Source: About.com

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Jennifer Merin

About.com

An entertaining, often very funny, but ultimately revealing and unsettling film about a US Army camp in the Mojave Desert where Iraq War conditions are simulated for training purposes.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Screen International

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Jonathan Romney

Screen International

Keeping the style objective and routine, [co-directors Tony] Gerber and [Jesse] Moss remain non-judgmental of the bizarre carnival they have uncovered.

August 14, 2008 Full Review Source: Film Threat

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Matthew Sorrento

Film Threat

It is an enlightening lesson in modern warfare.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

| Comment

Bill White

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

A keenly insightful film concerning an unusual training program for war-bound U.S. soldiers.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Seattle Times

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Tom Keogh

Seattle Times

this is such small stakes compared to the real war that the film can't help but feel equally unimportant.

July 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Paste Magazine

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Sean Gandert

Paste Magazine

If you thought Disneyland was fun, take a trip to this complete simulated Iraqi village in California, and learn how the other half live. And die.

July 27, 2008 Full Review Source: Monsters and Critics

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Ron Wilkinson

Monsters and Critics

Educational and enlightening.

July 14, 2008 Full Review Source: Film Journal International

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Eric Monder

Film Journal International

This increasingly complicated scenario isn't scripted, peace is far from guaranteed and the line between reality and its incredible simulation has a funny way of getting blurry.

July 11, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

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Ken Fox

TV Guide's Movie Guide

On one level, Full Battle Rattle is enjoyable for the theatrics ... On a second level ... is appreciable for what it says about the U.S. military's involvement in Iraq.

July 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Cinematical

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Christopher Campbell

Cinematical

In Full Battle Rattle, the Iraq Simulation and the war are both real and not real, confusing, painful, and horrific, for the refugees working as role players.

July 11, 2008 Full Review Source: PopMatters

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Cynthia Fuchs

PopMatters

Full Battle Rattle works just fine as a two-fisted combat story, with unexpected bursts of violence peppering that old universal message that war is hell. But the added layer of pretense pushes the movie to another level.

July 10, 2008 Full Review Source: AV Club

| Comment

Noel Murray

AV Club

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Full Battle Rattle

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A rather wild look at the training camp set up in the Mojave desert to mimic the conditions of Iraq for the purposes of training soldiers for deployment. The film follows both the military men as well as the character actors within the 'village' who are given scripted prompts and elaborate back stories to work with to

November 30, 2009

Bill Bryant

"The more your sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle." As a vet myself, I found this documentary completely engrossing. Right down to the finest detail, the documentary realistically captures an important part of our lives in the military. It's boring, stressful, exciting, depressing, and ironic. It

October 5, 2009

Chris M