Gunner Palace (2004)

American soldiers of the 2/3 Field Artillery, a group known as the "Gunners," tell of their experiences in Baghdad during the Iraq War. Holed up in a bombed out pleasure palace built by Sadaam Hussein, the soldiers endured hostile situations some four months after President George W. Bush declared the end of major combat operations in the country.

Directors:

Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker

Stars:

Bryant Davis, Devon Dixon, Javorn Drummond

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Bryant Davis	...	Himself
Devon Dixon	...	Himself
Javorn Drummond	...	Himself
Elliot Lovett	...	Himself
Nick Moncrief	...	Himself
Jon Powers	...	Himself
Richmond Shaw	...	Himself
Terry Taylor	...	Himself
Stuart Wilf	...	Himself

Storyline

American soldiers of the 2/3 Field Artillery, a group known as the "Gunners," tell of their experiences in Baghdad during the Iraq War. Holed up in a bombed out pleasure palace built by Sadaam Hussein, the soldiers endured hostile situations some four months after President George W. Bush declared the end of major combat operations in the country.

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Plot Keywords:

palace | iraq | iraq war | reference to burger king | star spangled banner | 

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Taglines:

400 American soldiers carry out their mission from a bombed-out pleasure palace once owned by Saddam Hussein. This is their story.

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Genres:

Documentary | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 on appeal for strong language throughout, violent situations and some drug references

Details

Official Sites:

Nomados

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 September 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Palac Gunner

Filming Locations:

Baghdad, Iraq

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$63,520, 6 March 2005

Gross USA:

$607,844

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$607,844

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nomados

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During a raid on a house, several Iraqi men, brothers, are captured. One of them protests, saying (in English) that he is a journalist. Some of the soldiers tell him to shut up, and he is taken away. As it turns out, this man was indeed a journalist, Yunis Khatayer Abbas. He spent time in jail, some at Abu Ghraib, suspected of plotting to assassinate British PM Tony Blair. After nine months of imprisonment, he was released, and the US has not charged him with any crime. By coincidence, Michael Tucker, the director of "Gunner Palace," heard about Mr. Abbas' story, and worked together to make his latest movie, "The Prisoner, or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair."

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Quotes

Soldier: I don't think ... anywhere in history has someone killed someone else and something better has come out of it. It's just ... not possible.

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Connections

Featured in This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)

User Reviews

A documentary that is poor, that is not made by Michael Moore.

Wow. A documentary not made by Michael Moor that still sucks. In this case the movie sucks because the direction is horrible, actually there is almost no direction. I like the content, but this is more of a home video then a documentary.

Gunner Palace is about a unit of soldiers living in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces during the war in Iraq. The movie shows day to day life while soldiers explain what is going on, sometimes in rap song, and sometimes in humor, and the dangers they face.

The interesting aspect of this movie is how it shows the soldiers feeling neglected now that the press is reporting the day to day activities like it did during the combat during the "war." Many of them feel that the public doesn't understand that they are still fighting and dieing every day. I also enjoyed how the film mixes the good and the bad the soldiers' experience. One block the kids are coming up to the soldiers to walk with them but the next block over, kids are throwing rocks at them. I do like how the movie shows what good things that are taking place over there, like visiting orphanage's and helping people in the street. I didn't like the continuous mocking of the President and Secretary Rumsfeld all though it's to be expected because this movie did have a anti-war feeling to it. Yet the content was still good.

What was horrible was the total lack or direction in the movie and the editing of the movie. I was constantly turning up the volume on my TV to hear what the man behind the camera was saying, yet had to turn it down when the Rap music came on. I then had to turn it up when he was interviewing the soldiers but turn it down when the fighting began. Poor sound editing. I also really couldn't follow what was going on. At one point, about a hour into the movie, the cameraman says he is going home, and we do indeed see pictures of him at his house. When then hear how one of the soldiers he visited was killed, and the next scene, without explanation we are back in Iraq. Did he go back after he heard the death of his friend, or did he just provide more pictures of stuff he took? Later on it becomes semi-clear that he goes back, but he never really says it. It could be his cameraman for all we know.

There is a wonderful interview with a kid over in Iraq who talks about his hometown, of Colorado Springs, and how when he left to join the Army, there was construction at the I-25 and Woodmen intersection. He then tells how since then, he lived in Germany for a year, got called to invade Iraq, and toppled a country, helped build it back up, and after all of that, he goes to the internet to look at the Colorado Springs newspaper to see a headline that said Woodmen Intersection making some progress. For those of use, like me, who lived in Colorado Springs during that time, could really appreciate that comment. I laughed out loud at that comment.

This could have been a wonderful movie, but because of the lack of direction the movie falls into confusion on more than one occasion. Interesting material, but poor story telling by the director.

**This review and others can be read at www.bbmc.dockratent.com**