Green Zone (2010)

Discovering covert and faulty intelligence causes a U.S. Army officer to go rogue as he hunts for Weapons of Mass Destruction in an unstable region.

Director:

Paul Greengrass

Writers:

Brian Helgeland, Rajiv Chandrasekaran (book)

Stars:

Yigal Naor, Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yigal Naor	...	Al Rawi (as Igal Naor)
Said Faraj	...	Seyyed Hamza
Faycal Attougui	...	Al Rawi Bodyguard (as Faical Attougui)
Aymen Hamdouchi	...	Ayad Hamza
Matt Damon	...	Miller
Nicoye Banks	...	Perry
Jerry Della Salla	...	Wilkins
Sean Huze	...	Conway
Michael J. Dwyer	...	Met-D (as Michael Dwyer)
Edouard H.R. Gluck	...	Met-D
Brian Siefkes	...	Met-D
Adam Wendling	...	Met-D
Abdul Henderson	...	Met-D
Paul Karsko	...	Met-D
Robert Miller	...	Met-D

Storyline

Following the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and his men are charged with finding the so-called weapons of mass destruction, whose existence justified American involvement, according to the Pentagon and their man in Baghdad, Poundstone. Veteran CIA operative Marty tells Miller that there are no weapons, it is a deception to allow the Americans to take over the country and install a puppet leader. Also suspicious of Poundstone is Wall Street Journal reporter Lawrie Dayne, who lets slip to Miller that Poundstone told her he had secret talks in Jordan with an important Iraqi, code-named Magellan, who told him about the weapons, though it now seems likely Magellan's true information was to the contrary. So begins a hunt for the truth. Who's playing whom?

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Plot Keywords:

weapon of mass destruction | iraq | wall street journal | reporter | u.s. army | 

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Taglines:

Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller is done following orders

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [fr] Studiocanal [fr]

Country:

France USA Spain UK

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

12 March 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Imperial Life in the Emerald City

Filming Locations:

Academia San Javier, Murcia, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£2,087,368 (UK) (12 March 2010)

Gross:

$35,024,475 (USA) (30 April 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, StudioCanal, Relativity Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The interior shots of General Al-Rawi's house were constructed atop a large bellows, which were pumped up and down violently to give the impression of bombs going off nearby.

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Goofs

When Chief Miller meets Martin Brown at the poolside, the boom can be seen reflected in Miller's sunglasses.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Al Rawi Bodyguard: [air raid sirens] Leave that! Space is limited!
Al Rawi Bodyguard: [explosions beginning] Hurry up! Hurry! We must leave now!
Al Rawi Bodyguard: [chaos in the hallways] Downstairs everyone!
Al Rawi Bodyguard: General...
General Al Rawi: [no response]
Al Rawi Bodyguard: General Al Rawi, sir. We must leave now.
Al Rawi Bodyguard: Ayad, get in the car. I'm right behind you.
[leaving the building]
Al Rawi Bodyguard: Seyyed, send the men to the safe houses.
[...]

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Connections

References Fox Report w/ Shepard Smith (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Aboun Salehoun"
Written by Youssef El Mejjad, Pat Jabbar
Performed by Amira Saqati
Published by Copyright Control
Courtesy of Barraka El Farnatshi

User Reviews

Exciting action but some tough questions too

British director Paul Grengrass + American actor Matt Damon = "The Bourne Supremacy", "The Bourne Ultimatum" and now "Green Zone", so we know what to expect here - and we're not disappointed. From the opening seconds, we're into the action with the trademark Greengrass 'in the action' frenetic camera-work and sharp editing. Although the film is said to be inspired by the non-fiction book "Imperial Life In The Emerald City" by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, a journalist for The Washington Post, the conspiratorial storyline is the invention of Greengrass who developed the original script.

If the tension isn't as excruciating at that other Iraq movie "The Hurt Locker", at least "Green Zone" has a narrative and poses some questions, hard questions that many American viewers would probably were rather not aired: what was the source of the 'intelligence' that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction? why was the source so readily believed when the evidence was so thin? could the bloody insurgency which followed the relatively easy initial occupation have been avoided if the Americans had been willing to work with elements of the Iraqi army?

See the movie and think about the issues. As a central Iraqi character puts it: "It's not up to you to determine what happens in this country."