Review of The War Tapes (2006) by V H — 13 Jul 2006

You've heard of the embedded reporters in Iraq who travel along with particular military units, right? Well one of the selected embeds got permission to hand out cameras to a bunch of soldiers in her unit instead of going herself. Ten guys in the New Hampshire National Guard volunteered to be part of the project. Three of them are featured in this film. (No word on what happened to the rest.).

Mike Moriarty is a 30-something guy with a wife and a couple of kids who, after getting laid off from his job and playing Mr. Mom for a year, felt like he had something to prove. The September 11th attacks spurred him to action; he joined the Guard and requested that he be sent, curiously, to Iraq. I say "curiously" because as we all know [color=black][font=Tahoma]?[/font][/color] repeat after me [color=black][font=Tahoma]?[/font][/color] there is no known link between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

Steve Pink is a carpenter and amateur writer who joined the Guard to help pay his college tuition. Though initially he comes off as a smart, likable guy with a good sense of humor, he turns kind of scary later on when he proves to be just a little [i]too[/i] into killing insurgents and claims he sees nothing wrong with allowing a pack of dogs to feast on their dead corpses. Perhaps this is some macho backlash caused by going through life saddled with the unfortunate moniker of "Mr. Pink".

("Why do [i]I[/i] have to be Mr. Pink?" "Because you're a faggot!" [color=black][font=Tahoma]?[/font][/color] [i]Reservoir Dogs[/i]).

Zack Bazzi is a Lebanese student whose family moved to the U.S. when he was 10-years-old. Bazzi is fluent in Arabic so he's able to interact with the Iraqi children who are always hanging around trying to act like kids in the middle of the war. Bazzi is intelligent and well-spoken and empathetic to the Iraqi people. He says he loves being a soldier. "The only bad thing about the Army," he says "is that you can't pick your war". He was by far my favorite of the three.

[i]The War Tapes[/i] doesn't really tell a story; it just shows a year in the lives of three soldiers with differing backgrounds and points of view. The unit's mission is to escort the KBR (Halliburton) trucks as they drive around delivering food and supplies in the dangerous Sunni Triangle. Though their opinions differ on other topics, the soldiers are all united in their hatred of Halliburton. They understandably detest how much money they're making by overcharging for goods and services during the war.

None of soldiers seem to feel they're making the world a better place by "liberating" Iraq but Pink is the most cynical of all. He scoffs at the idea that they're in Iraq to create democracy. He not only believes that this war is all about oil and money [color=black][font=Tahoma]?[/font][/color] he believes that that's what wars [i]should[/i] be about. In his opinion, if the U.S doesn't end up with the oil, all of the lives lost in Iraq were in vain.

Most of the action in this film involves the soldiers travelling at high speeds alongside the convoys of KBR trucks trying to protect them. Occasionally, car bombs explode along the road or gun battles erupt. The film is very good at conveying a sense of danger and the feeling that at any moment things can careen out of control. It's hard to imagine that until recently these were just regular guys with boring jobs who played Army one weekend a month. Now they're on the verge of getting blown to bits at any moment and making jokes about it to try to stay sane. Yikes.

It's rare when we get to see war from the perspective of the soldiers who are actually fighting it. Other than staged rah-rah celebrations when Bush shows up for turkey dinner and shakes a few hands, the soldiers themselves tend to be largely dehumanized, like little pieces on a Stratego board. This film doesn't provide any real insight into the war itself, but for me, the opinions of the soldiers are far more interesting than the opinions of a bunch of high-level strategists safely cocooned in a war room back home could ever be.