In 2004, filmmakers Ian Olds and Garrett Scott set out to create a truthful document of the American soldier's experience in Iraq by spending six weeks with the 82nd Airborne at their post in Falluja, where their mission is to improve relations with the locals while maintaining order in the... [More]

In 2004, filmmakers Ian Olds and Garrett Scott set out to create a truthful document of the American soldier's experience in Iraq by spending six weeks with the 82nd Airborne at their post in Falluja, where their mission is to improve relations with the locals while maintaining order in the city. Unbeknownst to any of them, the city would become the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the war mere weeks after filming was completed. Virtually living with the small platoon and accompanying them on patrols that see gunfire and explosions, Olds and Scott elicit some surprising opinions from their soldiers. Despite an urging from Squad Leader Sergeant Chris Corcione, a former guitar player in a North Carolina death metal band, to refrain from making any anti-Bush administration comments on camera, several soldiers express doubt in their reasons for being there and lack of faith in the President's motives for sending them. Telling comments from residents of the city also serve as eerie foreshadowing of the violence that would eventually follow. Without taking any clear position, OCCUPATION: DREAMLAND also shows how the military provides a way out for young people with no other options--though the end result may often be a different kind of purgatory. [Less]