The War Tapes (2006)

In producing a film largely shot by three soldiers in Iraq with miniDV camcorders -- Sgt. Zack Bazzi, Sgt. Steve Pink, and Spc. Mike Moriarty -- director Deborah Scranton tackles the Iraq War with an intricacy rarely seen in most contemporary documentaries on the same subject. To varying degrees, the soldiers struggle with the moral implications of their mission, deal with war's effects on their mental health, and the effect this has on their civilian life. The regiment's daily, unbelievably dangerous mission is to escort KBR/Halliburton supply trucks around the "Sunni Triangle." As they get flushed into a moral morass, many of the soldiers become convinced that the war's priority is on Dick Cheney's ex-employer's profit margins, what they call "the war for cheese." (KBR charges the military 28 dollars for a Styrofoam plate; their employees get paid multiple times a soldier's salary.) However, the editing, while adequate, never really rises to the level of the images or subject matter. The overall structure is similar to a television news-magazine story; because it is largely constructed around a series of traumatic incidents, the entire experience -- the psychological stages of a year spent in a war zone -- is confused. The film also heavily concentrates on people picked to represent different backgrounds and personalities (patriotic, anti-war, etc.), and we never get a feel for the true makeup of their regiment. But the visuals of the war being fought, from Fallujah to random IED and RPG attacks, are horrifyingly engaging and yet another potent reminder of how little of the fighting has been shown in the United States. When returning home, the soldiers are frustrated at being unable to express what they went through and the general disinterest of their friends and neighbors. By giving them the opportunity to record the inexpressible complexity of their experience, The War Tapes finds its strongest voice. ~ Michael Buening, All Movie Guide