cuponoodles

I caught Gunner Palace at the Fox Tower last night. It's a documentary following the lives of soldiers in the 2/3 Field Artillery in Baghdad from late 2003 to 2004. These men and women, known as "Gunners," live in Uday Hussein's bombed-out palace and constantly face the threat of unseen enemies, roadside bombs, and boredom.

The film takes a pretty objective look at the war in Iraq, mostly letting the soldiers speak for themselves. Many express their feelings in poetry and freestyle rap, while others show it with their sense of humor. It does get a little slow and repetitious at times, and I know a fellow moviegoer (who shall remain unnamed) fell asleep during the film. At one point I sat there wanting to see some real action, as most of the raids the soldiers conduct on suspected insurgent homes are mostly without violence, but then I immediately felt very guilty about it.

I think the most interesting aspect of this film is that it shows the divide between what the pundits, protesters and politicians go on about in regards to the war, and what the soldiers experience. There are many moments where the soldiers talk about what people in the US think of the war, and what they themselves see in Iraq.

At one point, one of the soldiers says something akin to, "You're in the movie theater now, eating some popcorn, and when the movie's done, you'll leave and talk about it for a bit. But then you'll forget. You'll forget about me and everyone else and go back to your life."