Week Of June 5, 2006 - Tue / Wed / Fri

June 7, 2006

Phew… that devil stuff's over…

And now, back to the war.

The parade of Iraqi war documentaries is getting a little wearing about now. It seems like everywhere you turn, there is the latest version of the documentary that did the best job of bringing you into the lives of the soldiers over there, Gunner Palace.

You could almost feel a premature fatigue last year when the Academy Awards failed to find a single Iraq doc to nominate. Instead, there was a load of variety - the high grosser, the financial scandal, the Tanzanian fish market, a great small political doc from a first timer, and the underseen action/disability flick.

Iraq In Fragments won at Sundance, but there is a reason it still doesn't have distribution. It's a good movie, but it feels like another variation on a theme that's been done better. And that is kind of a brutal place to put a well-made, well-intended film, but that's the haps.

A few weeks ago, I wrote in this space about my disappointment with The Road To Guantanamo, Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross' docudrama about a few really stupid kids who grew up fast after they ended up spending three years in Guantanamo for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. (That situation was exacerbated by that "place" being war torn Afghanistan weeks after 9/11… duh!)

One of the problems, it seems to me, is that making these films - as impossible as it is - is too easy.

The latest entry is a film called The War Tapes, which is made up primarily of footage created by real soldiers given real cameras. The film has its moments. But the reality is that you are wading through a lot of now-familiar territory to get to moments of sheer exhilaration, which do not fail because they are poorly shot, but whose poor compositions argue for the idea that they are of the moment in an inspired way.

But the truth is, again, that you could just rent Gunner Palace and see a significantly better movie with a much clearer voice. Now I guess if this was the chance to get you in front of a movie screen to face the harsh reality of being on the ground in Iraq, this would be much, much better than nothing. But it's not a home run.

The odd imbalance reminds me of Kirby Dick's tremendous film, Chain Camera. To make the film, Kirby gave 10 video cameras to 10 high school students. After a couple of weeks, they each gave their camera to another kid. Bit by bit, a plethora of material came forward. The idea of giving cameras to non-pros was not invented by Kirby Dick. But the skill with which he balanced and considered and created narrative with what he got back makes it a one of a kind… a one of a kind that also argues for more broadly considered ideas about what constitutes being a director or filmmaker.

And, by the way, no significant distribution for Chain Camera either. They got a Cowboy Booking release when Cowboy was trying to make a go of it by generating revenues through renting to film festivals. They are now out of business, though some of the very bright and committed people involved continue to be significant players in the true indie community.

Yesterday, Mark Ebner sent me a link to Pat Dollard's trailer to his seven-month long IraqDoc project, Young Americans. Since then, he has added a clip to his page showing "what HBO said was 'Too Untraditional' for you to see." Dollard comes off as a bit of a madman, both in the editing bay and in the copy on his website, where he takes his shots at Jeremy Barber, the "liberal media," and Hollywooders, while citing George Bush's war as "visionary."

Yet the trailer is fascinating for its profound rage. It literally says "Fuck you!" to all of us at home judging from a distance. Dollard has no compunction about showing disembodied, torn up heads or executions or, really, anything that is real. I'm not sure how well formed a documentary he will make, but I feel like I could spend days and weeks in a room watching his raw footage, flipping between boredom and being stunned.

The flipside jumps back - again - to Mike Tucker and Petra Epperlein, who made Gunner Palace, and who have just completing their follow-up, The Prisoner.

The film opens, ironically, with the "hero" aiming his video camera right at us. Cat Stevens' "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out," plays as we spend a few moments at a beach, filled with people bathing and sunning and looking great in bikinis. Is this Iraq? What are we getting into?

We quickly move into some footage - some of which I think was in Gunner Palace - of our hero, Yunis Khatayer Abbas, on his knees in his yard, his home having been raided as a "bomb-maker's safe house." And unlike Gunner, which was really about the perspective of these young soldiers, here we stay with the man who will turn into the hero of this tale in an oddly intimate way. (He is nearly unrecognizable as the man who was in the beach and interview footage, just a few years after the raid on his home.) He is engaging the camera in a dialogue, mocking the soldier who continuously tells him to shut up. We see in his eyes and in his behavior just how incredulous the situation is for him. He is a journalist. He is the watcher watching the watchers. And in this moment, he is just another fucking Iraqi, another bit of trouble, to these soldiers.

We go through Abbas' history, including the time when Saddam Hussein was a hero… when he had a donkey… when he had hair. This is a simple man. This is a decent life. Things change.

Abbas is a terrific subject because he has suffered at the hands of the Husseins and of the American invaders. The pains and indignities are not a political idea. And we can feel his dignity, no matter what part of the journey we are in.

As in Gunner, Tucker & Epperlein make it clear that regular life, and even joy, continues in the midst of all that is going on in the streets of Iraq. They also understand the paranoia of those streets and bring it to life succinctly and without overdramatizing.

Tucker's skills have become more sophisticated over these years. He is trying new things in editing and knows how to let the quiet moments play so that it feels as calm as real life most often does. Epperlein provides striking, clever, almost comic book-like graphics that cradle the storytelling in an oddly effective way.

There is no hysteria in Mr. Abbas, whatever horror he is describing. He is a man with a story. He is a man we believe. Abbas' normalcy is what makes him and his story so extraordinary. And the filmakers have taken that energy and infused this whole film with it, even when they are making a mockery of detainee processing with graphics of happy and sad faces stick-figuring out of Abu Ghraib capes that you'll recognize from the photos that exposed problems there. And everything is backed up with a lot of facts explained clearly, simply, and rage-inducingly.

And so there is hope for more important, compelling films about Iraq. But the bar has become higher. Perhaps the Pat Dollard doc will blow us all away. I know that The Prisoner is a completely engaging hour that requires your attention, your focus, and for your mind to be as open as the man who has suffered at the hands of both sides of this war.

For me, Abbas is a hero like Paul Rusesabagina is a hero. He is not a superhero. He is a man who has suffered and seen many remarkable and horrible things. And he remains above it. That is a human power that is hard to do anything less than admire without restraint. In an odd way, with such a different style and so much rage, Dollard seems to be after the same thing... humanizing people he fears have been dehumanized by America, even the America that hates the war. His immaturity is apparent in his need to shout, though perhaps that will find a way to touch many who can't hear any other way. And Epperlein & Tucker... like aged whiskey... are smooth and skilled and able to get you where they want to take you without shoving your nose in it. In an era of handicams, I can't tell you what a relief that is for me.

E Me: Are you tiring of Iraq docs?

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