The Situation (2006/I)

Director:

Philip Haas

Writer:

Wendell Steavenson (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The story of an American journalist, a CIA operative, and an Iraqi photographer against the backdrop of the bloody war in Iraq.

Plot Keywords:

Iraq War | Subtitles | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Connie Nielsen	...	Anna Molyneux
Damian Lewis	...	Dan Murphy
Mido Hamada	...	Zaid
Driss Roukhe	...	Walid (as Driss Roukh)
Nasser Memarzia	...	Rafeeq
Saïd Amadis	...	Mayor Tahsin
Omar Berdouni	...	Bashar
Chérine Amar	...	Noor
Shaun Evans	...	Wesley
Thomas McCarthy	...	Major Hanks (as Tom McCarthy)
Mahmoudi M'Barek	...	Colonel Jobouri
John Slattery	...	Colonel Carrick
Peter Eyre	...	US Ambassador
Fatiha Watili	...	Samira
Hamid Basket	...	Selim

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and a scene of sexuality.

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Arabic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Morocco

Company:

Red Wine Pictures

Soundtrack:

Kiss My Ass!

impressive setting, less impressive storytelling

Topicality and immediacy are the primary attributes of "The Situation," an otherwise uneven drama based on the real life experiences of an Anglo-American journalist stationed in war-torn Iraq (the film was actually shot in Morocco).

With her own eyewitness observations serving as her primary source of inspiration, first-time screenwriter Wendell Steavenson has crafted a tale of intrigue and romance, played out amidst the bloodshed and chaos that have wracked that nation since the war began in March 2003. The journalist (named Anna Molyneux in the movie) travels around the countryside chronicling the numerous atrocities that have arisen as a result of the tensions that exist among the nation's various warring sects and parties as well as between the Iraqis and the American forces stationed on their soil. There are any number of shocking, heartbreaking moments scattered throughout the film, moments that illustrate with brilliant clarity the brutal facts of existence in a war-torn setting.

As a movie, however, "The Situation" often comes across as amateurish and awkward, with many of the actors seemingly not quite up to the challenge of inhabiting the roles they've been assigned to play (although, in all fairness, director Phillip Haas should shoulder a significant amount of the blame for this weakness). The plotting is frequently stuffed to bursting, with far too many situations and characters vying for attention at any given moment and with romantic subplots gumming up the works unnecessarily. It's one thing to capture the messiness and confusion of a wartime situation for dramatic and thematic effect; it's quite another to confuse the audience through sheer incompetent storytelling.

Yet, paradoxically, the scruffy, dog-eared quality of the movie actually enhances the verisimilitude of the piece in a way that a slicker, more polished presentation might not have done. For despite the melodramatic approach the filmmakers sometimes take towards the material, the movie doesn't really feel like a "Hollywood" production, and that may well be the best thing "The Situation" has going for it in the long run.