The War Tapes (2006)

Called up for service in Iraq, several members of the National Guard were given digital video cameras. This film, edited from their footage, provides a perspective on a complex and troubled conflict.

Director:

Deborah Scranton

Stars:

Zack Bazzi, Duncan Domey, Ben Flanders

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Zack Bazzi	...	Himself
Duncan Domey	...	Himself
Ben Flanders	...	Himself
Mike Moriarty	...	Himself
Steve Pink	...	Himself
Brandon Wilkins	...	Himself

Storyline

Straight from the front lines in Iraq, THE WAR TAPES is the first war movie filmed by soldiers themselves. These soldiers bypassed Pentagon supervised media to share their experience like never before. Funnier, spicier, and more gut wrenching than news reports, this is Operation Iraqi Freedom as filmed by Sergeant Steve Pink, Sergeant Zack Bazzi and Specialist Mike Moriarty. Steve is a wisecracking carpenter who aspires to be a writer. Zack is a Lebanese-American university student who loves to travel and is fluent in Arabic. Mike is a father who seeks honor and redemption. Each leaves a woman behind - a girlfriend, a mother and a wife. Through their candid footage, these men open their hearts and take us on an unforgettable journey, capturing camaraderie and humor along with the brutal and terrifying experiences they face. These soldiers got the story that 2,700 embedded reporters never could.

---

Plot Keywords:

national guard | corpse | new york city | racial slur | world trade center manhattan new york city | 

---

Genres:

Documentary | War

---

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

29 April 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Háborús tekercsek

Filming Locations:

Baghdad, Iraq

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$2,753 (USA) (13 October 2006)

Gross:

$254,190 (USA) (20 October 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

SenArt Films, Scranton/Lacy Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

After the soldiers come home, if you look carefully you'll see that one of Mike Moriarity's cars (green pick-up) has the license plate "VBIED".

---

Quotes

Zack Bazzi: Every time you hear a boom, somebody is going to heaven.

---

Connections

Features NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams (1970)

User Reviews

A singularly authentic portrait

In The War Tapes documentary, Sgt. Zack Bazzi, who speaks Arabic, says in his videotaped section, "A good American will always love his country and be suspicious of his government." Although I usually look for criticism of the Iraqi debacle, this statement isn't a criticism of neocons but a sincere, self-protective code of behavior.

Three National Guardsmen were given cameras in 2004 to film their personal points of view one year after the beginning of the conflict. The result is a mixture of grunt humor, often better than anything scripted, and unsettling danger, where the cry of one narrator, ''This is the most helpless feeling you've ever had,'' rings solidly true as you feel the awful omnipresence of improvised explosive devices but never see them.

Ditto the enemy, whose face is seen only on a mangled body but almost never on the battlefield of the deadly road to the Baghdad airport or the dark streets of Fallujah. There the IED's rule in their phantom terror. The documentary brings to the screen the reality of all war from those who know it best, the foot soldiers.

As in most war films, there must be cuts to grieving or lonesome loved ones stateside, in this case rural New Hampshire. The histrionics of the usual Hollywood melodrama are absent; instead a mother, a wife, and a lover try to deal with the often unclear reasons why these men went to this war and how, upon their return, their relationships can ever return to normal because of the inevitable trauma.

I was pleased, however, to see the three videographers quietly disdain having to play security guards for the civilian contractor KBR, Inc., a subsidiary of Dick Cheney's Halliburton. That these contractors are the ones to profit from the war at the expense of the American people is a fair inference from the soldiers' commentary.

So The War Tapes becomes, to my simultaneous approval and disappointment, not a screed against an unjust war, but a singularly authentic portrait of the troubled heroes who make it work.