Review of Sand Castle (2017) by Allan Z — 02 Jun 2017

I'm an Iraq war vet, OIF3. This movie may not scratch every itch you expect from a war movie, but I can tell you it got the vibe right. I spent some time in Baqubah in 2005, and it was the Wild West. The problems with the locals helping then attacking you, even when you were doing something benign and humanitarian; are unfortunately correct. It's a messy subject, but this movie rang true from my point of view.

Some reviews complain about how this movie isn't "ambiguous enough". Not everything is ambiguous or 50/50. Even in war, sometimes one group is trying to do something good and gets screwed over for it. Stop expecting every war movie to portray each side as equally bad/incompetent/compromised...actual situations don't divide morally as you think they should.

I can't speak about what you may expect from war movies, but if you want to watch a film that lays close to the spirit of the experience of the American soldier...this movie does a good job. Generation kill is another good watch.

So what do you want? A movie that ticks the boxes you've come to expect from a 'war movie', or a movie that portrays the experience pretty accurately? If it's the latter, watch this movie.