'Gunner Palace' shows the kind of stories that should be on the nightly news. These stories shouldn't be a surprise, but they are. These soldiers, many uneducated and trained to do little more than get from point A to point B without dying, find themselves in a middle eastern city where they have to act as police officers, social workers, political advisers, security guards, probation officers, prison wardens, hospital orderlies, while all the while getting shot at and stoned by the people they are trying to help. Whether you believe in the war or not becomes irrelevant as you realize that these soldiers have been put in an impossible situation. They know it. The viewer knows it. The only person who doesn't seem to know it is Donald Rumsfeld, whose patronizing encouragement drones incessantly from armed forces radio in the background.
The film takes place after the war, when the majority of casualties are the result of insurgent bombings, not legitimate warfare. Though we never see the results of such attacks, the effects are clear. The film also makes clear the incredible risks that Iraqis take in trying to create a peaceful democracy for themselves, and the price that many of them pay. Liberal complaints about the lack of violence, scenes of death, and wounded Iraqi civilians are unfounded, and are exposed as the childish and naive fantasies that they are.
A flawed documentary that fails to create any real connection or empathy for the individuals involved, but a rare and compelling glimpse onto the streets of Baghdad, nonetheless.
The film takes place after the war, when the majority of casualties are the result of insurgent bombings, not legitimate warfare. Though we never see the results of such attacks, the effects are clear. The film also makes clear the incredible risks that Iraqis take in trying to create a peaceful democracy for themselves, and the price that many of them pay. Liberal complaints about the lack of violence, scenes of death, and wounded Iraqi civilians are unfounded, and are exposed as the childish and naive fantasies that they are.
A flawed documentary that fails to create any real connection or empathy for the individuals involved, but a rare and compelling glimpse onto the streets of Baghdad, nonetheless.