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 the white jeep with Poundstone arrives at the airport, the windshield is seen being dirty. But after the car stops and he gets out, the windshield is clear.

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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 60 Minutes (1968)

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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

Superior Conspiracy Thriller

I always find it slightly comical when people complain of hand-held camera-work. It reminds me of an old woman hearing The Chemical Brothers and wincing in pain – "They don't really call that music do they?" Personally, my eyes have been able to follow a moving object ever since I was a child. I have no problem with a hand-held camera.

As for the movie, 'Green Zone' is an excellent action thriller about a US Army Warrant Officer investigating the shady reasons why the military intelligence being fed to the Iraq Survey Group is failing to uncover weapons of mass destruction in post-invasion Baghdad. Much of the ensuing shenanigans are inspired by the findings of both the Iraq Intelligence Commission Report and the UK's Butler Review, which in 2004 found that pre-war intelligence had been highly suspect.

I say 'inspired' because 'Green Zone' is fiction—unless I blinked and missed it, there's no opening title card claiming "based on a true story". Conservatives, so often unable to discern fact from fiction, will view the film as a piece of docudrama reportage and find it deeply flawed, as it would be if it purported to be such a thing. The rest of us will recognize that Greengrass has crafted an excellent conspiracy thriller that simply uses the controversial politics of post-war Iraq as background color, and does so very well. As is to be expected from a director who, at this point in his career, can do this stuff in his sleep, the action sequences are brilliantly choreographed, the tension masterfully built, and the characters multi-layered. The cinematography that others have called "ugly" I found added a sense of realism, particularly in the grainy night scenes. My only complaint is a couple of instances in which Iraqi characters begin spouting embarrassing soap-box polemic. It isn't that such thoughts are out of character, just the way they are expressed; the dialogue being too obvious and cheesy. Thankfully, such moments can be counted in seconds rather than minutes. What's so impressive about 'Green Zone' is the seemingly authentic locations. It really does look as though it were filmed in Baghdad. Instead, it was shot on location in England and Spain. A production designer hasn't worked such magic since 'Full Metal Jacket' converted a London parking lot into the battlefields of Vietnam.

'Green Zone' is an excellent movie that will be thoroughly enjoyed by fans of political conspiracy thrillers. It isn't presented as factual, and only fools would look to a movie for facts. For facts, read books or, better yet, read the Iraq Intelligence Commission Report and the Butler Review. But don't blame Paul Greengrass for your laziness and stupidity in mistaking his excellent movie for a representation of 'truth'.