This narrative retelling of the real life tragedy in Haditha is gripping and immediate but may sacrifice the subtleties of history for dramatic impact.
This narrative retelling of the real life tragedy in Haditha is gripping and immediate but may sacrifice the subtleties of history for dramatic impact.
The fate of two cultures becomes locked on a tragic collision course in director Nick Broomfield's dramatization of the events that led to the massacre of 24 Iraqi men, women, and children by American Marines. A squadron of American soldiers goes speeding across the Iraqi desert in a convoy of armored Humvees, eventually stopping at a local store where the soldiers jump out to stretch and browse the DVD selection. Meanwhile, as the Marines strike up a conversation with the young male clerk
behind the counter, two Iraqi men climb into the back of a pick-up truck to get a crash course in IED mechanics. Both the Marines and the Iraqis are simply going about their daily business as usual, just doing their best to survive in a land where war is just another fact of life. For the Marines it's all about patrolling the desert and waiting for the next bomb to go off. When a roadside IED kills one Marine and wounds two others, the vengeance with which the American soldiers strike back at the locals may cause even the most hard-line warhawks to take pause and consider the true cost of a war which has no end in sight. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Lacking in subtlety and nuance, Broomfield's nerve-jangling movie nonetheless succeeds in showing the war from various vantage points. And from wherever one's standing, the view is profoundly disturbing.
The killing of 24 Iraqi civilians by U.S. marines in November 2005 is still so clouded by cover-up that the last thing anyone needs now is an improvised drama about the tragedy by UK gonzo documentarian Nick Broomfield.
This film by Nick Broomfield, which superficially resembles Brian De Palma's Redacted in that it is a mockumentary based on real, horrible events, is a 90-minute libel against the Marine Corps.
Knuckle-whiteningly up-close and personal, lurching us into the chaos and senselessness of ideals-inspired murder; whether for religion, patriotism, money, or revenge, the results remain simply brutal.
Previous films such as "Gunners Palace" and the more famous "War Tapes" gave us intimate footage of the day to day danger and tedium of the war, but no film has shown both sides with the power and accuracy of "Battle for Haditha"
Remember when your mother warned that playing video games would desensitize you to violence? Now witness Exhibit A: a docudrama showcasing Generation Kill's all volunteer army in all its glory.
There's a size and scope to the film we haven't seen in Broomfield's prior work that shows him capable of creating a piece of cinema on par with Michael Winterbottom's films.
Unsubtle but gripping, Battle For Haditha illustrates how a military that treats every man, woman, and child as a potential enemy can soon find that such thinking constitutes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Although Battle for Haditha is certainly a plotted and arranged fiction, it is skillful and informative without corrupting our perspective via the techno-faddishness that undoes current filmmakers
This film apparently pissed off every Marine out there. Any movie that inspires THAT much emotion is noteworthy....but this is a gut wrenching film! This movie did a good job of showing all sides of this tragic circumstance, in my opinion. I felt horrible for everyone involved...and I was left sickened to the core.
A modern warfare movie about a terrible massacre of Iragi people. Nick Broomfield is better known for his documents then movies. "Battle for Haditha" has a documentary feeling, focusing on the Marines as well as the Iraqi insurgents and locals.Based on a true story where 24 innocent local Iraqs were killed, "Haditha"
portrays well the madness of today. Innocent people suffer because of war. It feels realistic and it is not a joy to watch it.If you think of it as a normal war movie, "Haditha" doesn't stand out. It's slowpaced but because of its story, people interested about the Irag war should see it.
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