Cinema Tuesdays Review

Up Close With the Men and Women Over There
By Nathan Cone

"Gunner Palace," unlike Michael Moore's documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11," doesn't wear its politics on its sleeve. In fact, I'm unsure what the politics of the film are. After watching it, it seems that both hawks and doves could find something to latch onto in the film, which simply depicts the daily lives of the 2/3 Field Artillery, a.k.a. "The Gunners," as they patrol the streets of Baghdad from their station at Uday Hussein's former pleasure palace.

The film is a rambling series of events, including scenes of soldiers searching for insurgents, training the Iraqi army, taking a dip in Uday's swimming pool, or composing rhymes about the military experience in Iraq. There are no real scenes of violence, but there are constant reminders of the violence that goes on in the country on an almost daily basis. A transport vehicle stops traffic on a road to check out what looks like an empty paper bag. Luckily, it's just a bag, and not an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) as the soldiers feared. But in another scene, a raid on a home reveals evidence of bomb-making equipment.

One gets a small sense of the simultaneous feelings of boredom and fear that must co-exist in the Gunners each day they remain in Iraq. All the while, director Michael Tucker narrates what's going on, and Armed Forces Radio and Television Service bulletins provide an occasionally ironic counterpoint to the onscreen footage.

The DVD of "Gunner Palace" includes several deleted scenes, some of which offer a glimpse into the Gunners' lives outside the military. There are also full-length versions of some of the rap tracks written by the Gunners. Hip-hop is the dominant form of expression in the youth culture, and so it follows in "Gunner Palace," as some of the soldiers pour their feelings out into these rhymes, rendering the songs even more effective than those same soldiers' interview segments, and even more informative than the nightly news.

One problem I had with the presentation of "Gunner Palace" on DVD is that the film is not anamorphically encoded. As widescreen televisions continue to drop in price, there is no excuse now for producers to present a widescreen film on DVD that does not take full advantage of the widescreen frame of new TV sets. I used the "zoom" feature on my TV to make the image fill the screen, but that cut off some of the subtitles.

Those who see "Gunner Palace" will not come away with a sense of whether the War in Iraq is right or wrong. But after seeing what these men and women go through on a daily basis, the viewer might appreciate even more the job they are being asked to do.

As I mentioned above, the film is very loosely structured, but it is a glimpse into a world many of us will never experience. I cannot describe the film better than this Iraq War Veteran: "Really supporting the troops is more than just tying a yellow ribbon or putting a bumper sticker on your car. Supporting the troops means learning about their lives and their struggle -- and 'Gunner Palace' can help you do that." -- Paul Rieckhoff, Iraq War Veteran and Executive Director of Operation Truth

Parents note: Despite its PG-13 rating, the language in the film is salty, with plenty of "F" words used to color the conversation.

It is also important to note that 25 cents of the sale of each "Gunner Palace" DVD will be donated to the Fisher House Foundation to assist soldiers in need of specialized medical care.

8/1/05

INSIDE GUNNER PALACE

An email interview with director Michael Tucker, by Nathan Cone

I had already been to Baghdad twice. For the third trip, I looked for a unit that would be suitable, and by chance heard of 2/3 FA, which was in a Palace, on the river and with a pool. It was like 120 degrees, so the decision was easy! More, Adhamiya, their sector, was a hot spot, so it made sense to camp out there.

How much time did you spend in Baghdad?

I spent two months with them. Sept/Oct 2003 and Feb/March 2004.

Although we get to see portraits of soldiers' lives on the local and national news quite often, one never gets the sense of their daily activities. Was this your primary objective with the film, or did it simply develop from the footage you shot?

When you live with them, what you see is daily life. The grind. The boredom. That's daytime. Nighttime is when the action starts -- raids, etc. What came through to me was the importance of showing a realistic picture. Simply, what does a day or week feel like, over and over again?

Life imitates art. The commander wanted to have the best FOB (base) in theater. While they still lived in pretty rough conditions (ten or more to a room), there were some nice bits -- it felt like a park, albeit a bombed one. The contrast [in the film] between reality and official statements was very intentional -- to evoke what soldiers have always felt, removed from officialdom. There is also a strand of pop culture that runs through the film -- movie, music and cultural references.

Some have called Vietnam the first "rock and roll" war. Would you say hip-hop and rap is the defining music of our current conflict?

Hip-hop is it in Iraq. While other music is certainly played -- Toby

Keith could easily score the soundtrack for this war -- hip-hop conveys the emotions of violence well.

I was just in Iraq, and once again, I sensed detachment -- there is a huge disconnect between the public and the war, and soldiers feel it.

It's not a draftee war, it's volunteers, and that was one important message of the film.

That was the challenge: to make something that anyone could draw from. I would hope that anyone could take at least one image from the film and hold it. At the same time, it was important to challenge assumptions -- the war isn't what most of us think it is.

Almost all of them are either getting ready to go to Iraq or they are in Iraq. That's something the public also needs to know -- it's an endless cycle for the soldiers, they can't opt out.

We fought a hard battle, but the core argument was that these are real people in an impossible situation doing the best that they can.

The language is not meant to shock, rather it just is. We also felt that it was important that young people be exposed to uncensored reality -- a reality they may find themselves in.

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