Review of The War Tapes (2006) by Jim C — 02 Mar 2010

As you'll hear other combat veterans say, the movie 'The Hurt Locker' is about as realistic as Sesame Street. This film is the real deal. It's gritty, grim, and glaringly gory. But this isn't a Hollywood imagining.

The body parts and blood you see in this film, the dead bodies covered with flies are what soldiers go through to do their jobs. 'The War Tapes' is an amalgamation of the points of view of several soldiers given cameras with which to capture these images, so each contains a slightly different take on what's happening.

I very much bonded with SGT Zach Bazzi in this film. And since he was the only one in his platoon who speaks Arabic as a native speaker, he was in the unique, if unenviable, position of acting as translator.

Being of Arab extraction, he could also see the other side of the story which must have caused a lot of anguish because his fellow soldiers didn't share his perspective. He did his job very well and I'd like to say to him right now that the ceremony at which you formally became a citizen was just that, a formality.

You earned your citizenship the way that very few native-born American citizens will ever have to and you earned it when the first round was fired at you, not at that ceremony which our country shamefully forced you to attend after you returned from the war.

Thank you for your service. And thank you to all of the men of 'The War Tapes'. Hooah!