Few would argue that war is a terrible and destructive thing. It can devastate entire populations and destroy nations. Aside from the international consequences it can take a profound and lasting toll on the men who fight the wars. It is one thing to consider a war in terms of strategy, tactics or geo-political motivations but that is a sterilized viewpoint far removed from those doing the actual fighting. For those that have been a part of a fighting force engaged in combat few would even endeavor to describe the horrors they have witnessed. By its very nature war forces reasonable men into the most unreasonable of circumstances. Because war offers a setting of intense emotional conflict it has been a favorite source of material for films since the beginnings of the art form. In fact the very first movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1927 was a war film, ‘Wings’. Almost every war man has engaged in has found its way to the motion picture from ancient battles to the one that we as a nation are currently fighting. The focus of the war film has changed a lot over the years. In World War II most of the films made during the war showed the heroic efforts of brave young men fighting for their country. That was back when the American people were confident with the reasons for the war.

In the sixties and seventies a new type of war movie came about; actually some have called these films anti-war movies. They tried to be more realistic about the carnage wrought upon the civilian and military people affected by the conflict. Starting with wars about Vietnam some film makers have focused on the reports of atrocities that occur in war. Now the latest war the United States has become involved with is over in Iraq. It is not a popular war and there are many who question the motivations that started it. The combination of controversy and conflict is a powerful draw to film makers and recently there have been an increasing number of films concerned with American actions over in that desert country. One of the latest is ‘Battle For Haditha’ by Nick Broomfield. It focuses on the investigation of the massacre of 24 men, women and children in Haditha, Iraq. As with many films of this sort it is based on real events with the names and some of the facts altered. It had a very limited theatrical release earlier this year and is now available on DVD through Image Entertainment. This is a thought provoking film that is not like other war films but realistically presented.

This film was written and directed by Nick Broomfield. Since the mid seventies he has worked on straightforward documentaries and docudramas usually concentrating on controversial people and situations. Among his subjects are Kurt Colbain, Courtney Love, Tupac, Heidi Fleiss and Aileen Wuornos. The one thing that all of these individuals have in common is they were extreme in everything they did in their lives. They were people living on the edge and most created their own dire circumstances. In this film he takes his documentary style and focuses it on an alleged massacre of innocent men, women and children. The real events took place on November 19, 2005 just five months after a major battle at Haditha, Iraq. Most of the people killed on that day were noncombatants. The action was taken by U.S. Marines who in real life were subsequently acquitted of all charges. In order to achieve a greater degree of realism Broomfield chose to use real former military personal in many of the roles. Since for the most part they are not professional actors the performances come across as grittier and less polished. This was the correct approach for a film such as this. Broomfield wanted the audience to see the horror of the situation and how in war it is a fairly simple matter for something to escalate completely out of control. This is ultimately a story of vengeance that rises up out of utter frustration in a young man’s current situation. War is shown as the catalyst that remains unchanged as it forever alters the lives of those within it.

Bloomfield’s movie was released at the same time Brian De Palma released his war film ‘Redacted’. While both films consider atrocities performed in a time of war the viewpoint offered by the films are completely different. De Palma concentrated on the American soldiers giving a first person look at the events. Bloomfield takes a few steps back with his perspective. He attempts to show the events from the vantage points of the different sides. We are shown the Marines fighting in a strange country far from home. The civilians are just trying to survive a battle that was brought to them while the insurgents are trying to defend their way of life from a foreign invader. There are no simple answers to what happened on that fateful day and Bloomfield leaves much of this consideration up to the audience. He takes a humanistic approach and relies on the humanity of the viewer to make the decisions.

The U.S. Marine platoon Kilo Company is headed by Cpl. Ramirez (Elliot Ruiz). He is a natural leader but at night is plagued by nightmares. He begins to show the signs of the unimaginable stress that he is under in this bleak part of the world. We also meet a pair of Sunni insurgents Ahmad (Falah Flayeh) and Jafar (Oliver Bytrus). All of their lives there have been violence between their religion and the others that are dominate in the country. Now the Americans have entered the fray and they want to shake off their control. While the Marines are on what should have been a routine patrol in Haditha a bomb attack kills one of the Lance Corporals and injuries several other Marines. This sets off a chain of events that leads the men to wipe out households in the area. All involved are depicted as men pushed beyond reason lashing out in an animalistic fashion.

Bloomfield uses hand held cameras to increase the intimacy of the film. The shots are jagged with the frequent use of oblique angles to keep the audience off balance as if we are in unfamiliar terrain. This is the kind of movie that dialogue is almost superfluous. The actions speak for themselves and they are powerful in their imagery. This is stark and often brutal film; fitting for the subject matter. Bloomfield doesn’t address the global political motivations here. There do not matter much to the men and women caught in the middle of the fighting. For them there is very little humanity around them; only the need to survive another day. No matter how you feel about the necessity of the war you have to be touched on a deep emotional level while watching this film. It is not easy to get through and shouldn’t be. Bloomfield has created a realistic film that will bludgeon its way into your consciousness.