Customer Reviews

The War Tapes

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

`The War Tapes' is a unique documentary recorded by 3 soldiers in the New Hampshire Army National Guard during their one year deployment in Iraq. Using cameras mounted on vehicle turrets, dashboards, and helmets along with utilizing night vision devices and thermal imagers, this compilation is assembled from over 800 hours of footage. Sergeants Steve Pink and Zack Brazzi, along with Specialist Michael Moriarty are the central characters that carry the cameras and capture the images.

Almost from the first day on the ground in country, powerful and unsettling footage is shown from mortar attacks, ambushes, firefights, explosions, and injuries sustained from soldiers and civilians alike in Iraq. The video is graphic and intense and it leaves a serious impression about what soldiers have to endure in Iraq. You can get a sense of the underlying tension and anxiety experienced by these soldiers as they narrate what they've seen and felt. Also shown are their attitudes and thoughts regarding why America is in Iraq and the consequences of the war.

In-between segments of the documentary, footage is shown with Michael Moriarty's wife, Zack Bazzi's mother, and Steve Pink's girlfriend. They all put on a brave face but you can sense the emotional turmoil of having loved ones so far away in such a dangerous environment. The families at home also share their mixed feelings about the American involvement in Iraq and the difficulties of being on their own. Upon re-deploying back to the United States, there are physical and emotional changes evident in the returning soldiers and it is significant in how this affects a person's lifestyle and relationships.

`The War Tapes' is a well produced documentary, in my opinion, and delivers a thought provoking, important, and sometimes disturbing look at many aspects dealing with the war in Iraq. To compliment the main program, there are 2 extra features on the DVD that are worth checking out. One is a collection of interviews lasting just under 30 minutes and the second is 80 minutes of additional material covering several different and interesting topics.

John Burns, the Baghdad bureau chief for the New York Times, calls this film "the single best document (book, film, or article) you could see on the war in Iraq." Director Deborah Scranton taught three soldiers from New Hampshire's National Guard --Steve Pink, Mike Moriarty, and the Lebanese-American Zack Bazzi who is fluent in Arabic --how to use a camera, then edited their 800 hours of war footage down to 97 minutes. The result is a first person visual narrative of the war in Iraq. It's probably about as close as you can get to experiencing war vicariously-- the chaos, bravado, feelings of helplessness, fear, vulgarity, boredom, and cynicism. Endless rows of charred vehicles in an equipment vehicle. Security escorts protecting convoys of Halliburton trucks carrying septic waste ("follow that shit truck!") or cheese cake. Children everywhere. And yes, IEDs and daily mortar attacks lobbed into Camp Anaconda. The film documents the stories of the three soldiers from their deployment to their return to their families and post war symptoms, including several takes with their wives back home interspersed throughout the film. Parts of this film are very hard to watch.

In 2004 Deborah Scranton was invited to join a New Hampshire National Guard unit being deployed to Iraq as an imbedded journalist. She and producing partner Charles Lacy had a different idea: why not provide the soldiers with miniDV camaras and let them record what they experienced. What resulted was some 800 hours of footage that was edited into the brillant 97 minutes of the War Tapes.

The story follows the day to day lives of three soldiers from training to return from duty one year later. Mike Moriority is a hard line patriot who wanted to be deployed to Iraq as a result of what he saw at 9-11. Steven Pink is a wise cracking college graduate who thinks service will make him a better man. Jack Bazzi is a Lebanese emigre who uses his knowledge of Arabic to give us a unique view of the culture.

Through these men we see the horror of war close up. The footage is graphic and haunting and is not always easy to watch but it is essential. There is more to be seen and talked about here than in 10 conventional war films. Whether you are pro war or antiwar there is something here that you can take in and discuss with others. The essential question is the age old one:why are we fighting. To some it is to bring democracy to the Iraqi people to others the ony real reason is for the oil and to make money for corporations like Haliburton.

Do yourself a favor and seek this one out and make the choice for yourself. Excellent and well recommended.

`War Tapes' is a great documentary because it is made and narrated by the soldiers fighting in Iraq. Three men from New Hampshire share different backgrounds but one purpose: To win the war in Iraq, but each states his own personal motivation well. The film has three different aspects: the battles, the family life at home, and life in the army in Iraq. There are three main participants: Steven Pink, who has most of the cameras and a girlfriend, Lindsay, waiting for him at home; Zach Bazzi, a Lebanese émigré, whose mom is devoted to her soldier son; and Mike Moriarity whose wife and children wait on pins and needles for his return. At times the documentary is composed. We hear the thoughts of loved ones, torn by separation anxiety, pride, and love. The soldiers testify to their sense of purpose. Then, we get harrowing battle scenes with tanks going through the unstable streets of Fallujah. We hear them work as a unit fighting the insurgents with appropriately shaky cameras and thundering ammunition. Their candor is almost groundbreaking. The disdain for the enemy and the opportunism of war purveyors KBR and Halliburton are telling. Seeing soldiers train Iraqis, sorely needed recreation, and the aftermath of the men's sacrifices are key highlights. Whether or not you support the war, this film shouldn't be missed for supporting and understanding the soldiers. Sometimes funny, often unsettling, but always interesting, 'The War Tapes' is a rewarding and informative film.

Having grown up in a career military family, I must applaud this film. The fact that it was commissioned and sponsored by the U.S. Army National Guard is a positive sign that the military is attempting to ease the transition of fighting troops back into normal civilian life.

What are the messages of this film? According to the Extra Features:

1) Understand what we soldiers have been through in service to our country.
2) We were sent to Iraq to kill people. Right or wrong, that was our mission, and we did it to the best of our ability. Judge us on that basis.
3) Support our troops without asking whether the Iraq War was necessary. That question only demoralizes us and makes our job more difficult.
4) Don't blame us the way you did the Vietnam veterans. We are all wounded warriors, emotionally if not physically. Welcome us home as heroes.

I served in the Army as a medic during the Vietnam conflict. When I returned home from overseas, I was confused and depressed for six months. I needed to talk with my family about what I had experienced, but no one seemed to understand or even wanted to listen. The soldiers in this film said it was very helpful for their families in understanding "why I am the way I am since I returned."

This film may not be considered a true "documentary" in the sense that the cameramen said all the tapes were turned over to Command for their editing and approval. The sergeant described that when he started thinking of himself as a photojournalist and asking other soldiers what they thought about apparently inane orders on camera, his commander called him in and warned him these were actions unbecoming a non-commissioned officer.

If you are looking for a film that says "The Iraqis are real people and they are suffering too," this is not it. But this film supports the troops without question, helps their families to understand what they went through for us, and they deserve this and a lot more from the American public.

I just saw this on the military channel and am buying the DVD.

Brilliant telling of a very human story. Great Americans, by which I mean honest decent men, with strong convictions, performing a nasty mission on behalf of their country and more importantly their fellow soldiers. You can't go through their experience without being changed in fundamental ways, and you see the immediate and long term costs of what some people debate on a policy level, but which ultimately manifests in the lives and families of these brave, scared, lonely, decent men. They are in my prayers as they go forward, trying to make meaning of it all, and carrying on with their lives. As a retired career soldier myself, I found myself reliving my own memories of hell and boredom, frustration and fear, and the odd moments of joy and humor. They have done an awesome job of expressing the unexpressable. I admire their courage in letting us see themselves in the moment.

The story is told with integrity and honesty, and without apology, and for that I am grateful. Anyone who thinks war is honorable is nuts, although there are elements of honor in it. Anyone who thinks it's glory and policy are wrong, although there are elements of glory and policy in it. It's also heartwrenching accidents and indelible events and human prices that keep getting paid. It's tied to the dark side of human nature and will be with us as long as we are the half animal/half noble spirit that is humankind. I pray that our consciousness survives. it's only through these shared stories and truths that consciousness may win. Without understanding there can be no compassion and empathy, and ultimately that's what it takes for love and peace to thrive.

i wish these brave soldiers well, and want them to know how many people DO understand their sacrifice and courage and conviction. we need more voices like this to inform the public debate on monumental decisions that commit our people to war

Sincerely,
ken long
LTC, US Army (ret) (CIB)
Leavenworth, Kansas

A realistic view from the troops views. It had a lot of action and combat in this film. You see IED's blowing off everywhere, car bombings, shootings, dead bodies, ect. You also see the darker side of how it affects families and the soldiers themselves.
A very VERY realistic movie. You feel as though you are in the action. A must see!!

Very eye opening movie about struggles of supply chain troops movements to reinventory frontline US TROOPS!!Well worth watching

This is worth looking at. The footage and real time audio is just what it was like...I was there, I know. It is slightly slanted in the comentary...though I suspect that was an attempt to find a few subjects (the soldiers) that would give a varried view point. By trying to balance things, you'd think the guys over there were as much for as against. Not true. But that really matters not, I'm willing to believe the intent was balance, not an intentional skew of the opinions. War sucks. Period. Hooah

The idea behind The War Tapes is simple enough: give video recorders to a handful of NH National Guardsmen on their way to Iraq, then edit the results into something worth viewing. The project could have been a disaster, yielding nothing but prosaic (or worse) self-congratulatory nonsense that would have been hell to watch. Instead, the men whose footage made it into the film provided insights far deeper than many of are accustomed to watching. The men show themselves and their comrade posturing nervously as they prepare for battle. Once in Iraq, they begin to realize just how the war is being waged. They experience the ever-present threat of IEDs, the plight of civilians caught between sides. Tellingly, they experience the absurdities of war -- a night spent guarding a shipment of cheesecakes, offers of homegrown cigarettes and pornography from the locals, a graveyard of trucks and equipment blown apart by explosives, each wreck telling a story.

The home front is shown as well. The men's wives, mothers and children must deal with the prolonged absence of the men from home, and hope they will come back alive and reasonably sane. When the men do return, they face the complexities of reintegrating with their old lives. What do you say when one day you are dodging enemy bullets and the next you are sitting on your Mom's living room? What's it like to commute to work when the roadside has held such horrors?

The War Tapes is a masterful piece of editing. To craft unplanned footage from several uncoordinated cameras into a coherent tale -- avoiding glamorizing the war or becoming a polemic against it -- shows remarkable trust in the soldier's experiences. The soldiers need to be commended as well for allowing themselves to be filmed expressing every emotion from loyalty to disgust to bravado to self-doubt. The War Tapes is an incredible accounting of the realities of the experience of fighting in Iraq. A masterpiece of reporting that far outstrips any of the embedded "reporting" done by the networks or cable channels.