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• Iraq On Film

Not so long ago Americans celebrated war films as tributes to fallen heroes who died in the name of liberty for the stars and stripes. They were evocative of the pathos and pride permeating from the States. Now it seems movies like The Longest Day and Patton are distant whispers of past glory.

The Last Great War (it deserves italics, doesn’t it?). Gone are the days of John Wayne fighting Nazis in black and white. Vietnam, like Iraq, introduced us to a quagmire with no clear solutions. Lines blurred between good and bad. Right and wrong. So it doesn’t surprise me that there’s a rise in Iraq War-based films.

While mired in the jungles of Vietnam, the American populous, entrenched in a war it didn’t fully understand, with thousands perishing and their memories fading into obscurity on the nightly news, was paralyzed with shock and confusion.

More or less adopting similar cynical and sometimes nihilistic tones of the ’70s, flicks like The Kingdom, Lions for Lambs and Home of the Brave aren’t depicting the war on terror in a flattering light. Now, don’t get me wrong: we, as viewers, should be challenging ourselves to think outside the box and not bombard our noggins with mindless fodder.

But unlike the morally ambiguous Vietnam movies, recent Iraq dramas have adopted a finger-wagging, scolding take on suicide bombers and firefights in Baghdad. Forget any open-minded rhetoric. Yeah, the situation sucks and it’s not clearing up any time soon. The question is, do we really need another reminder?

Take Paul Haggis’ In the Valley of Elah or the John Cusack weepy, Grace is Gone. Exploring the war’s resonance with suffering families proves that emotional trauma can pack more heat than an AK-47. Both films deal with the loss of loved ones and spurned family members coping with disenchantment surrounding the war.

In Kimberly Peirce’s forthcoming Stop Loss, a decorated war hero played by Ryan Phillippe triumphantly returns to his po-dunk Texas town only to be summoned back to active duty. Driving the story is Phillippe’s psychological battle of defending the country he loves and supporting an unpopular war or resuming a sedentary lifestyle.

Investigating conflicting motivations from both sides is definitely en vogue. In Neil Burger’s (The Illusionist) The Lucky Ones, a triumvirate of soldiers embarks on a cross-country road trip only to find a country torn in defense of the war. As its ironic title probes, are these soldiers truly saved, just lucky or being mocked for their return?

Ok, so they’re not high art. We probably won’t see another Apocalypse Now too soon. Such films offered a multitude of ideas arising from horrific circumstances. While maintaining an anti-war stance, they forced audiences to question the government’s motivations and the cost of human lives.

When will talented artists like Haggis and Burger forgo pedantic politicking and focus on entertainment with heart? Hopefully it’ll be soon because audiences (at least American ones) don’t need further evidence that we’re stuck in a messy rut.