BattleGround: Documentary Style at Its Best

BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire's Edge was filmed in Iraq between October 6 to October 27, 2003, released theatrically in 2004, and is now (2006) available on DVD and via cable/satellite TV.

I had this in the pipeline for a while, but frankly put it off, envisioning roadside bombs, snipers, and lots of bloody casualties. I finally watched it today -- and much to my surprise, it's not in the least what I expected. Stephen Marshall and Anthony Lappé, the Guerilla News Network (GNN) filmmakers, have created a compelling documentary of universal interest and poignancy, without external narration. They take the viewer inside Iraq, where one glimpses daily life, family cohesion, human activities of all sorts (like eating and drinking tea and driving around Baghdad and out in the countryside).

The tone is civil; people speak for themselves. We see quite articulate American soldiers, Iraqi Shi'ites, Sunnis, insiders and outsiders. The tone and scope of this film would appeal to audiences from middle school on up. No one is killed and there is little violence that transpires on camera. Instead, we know that many have died, and many more will die, that the situation is complex.

The time frame is not long before Saddam Hussein was captured. The insurgency had not fully gathered momentum; Shi'ites were more hopeful, Americans more optimistic, the militias had not started killing members of rival factions in large numbers. But just from hearing people making observations, watching their interactions, you can see the trouble brewing, and maybe the lost opportunities.

One also sees the vibrancy of people, regardless of their worldview. One of the more touching stories in this montage is that of Frank, a Shi'ite man who returns home to see his mother and other surviving family members twelve years after having escaped the bloody Hussein crackdown of 1991 in the wake of the Gulf War. He brings charm, humor and pathos to the film, and a better idea of what kind of country some of his fellow Shi'ites would like to see created. One also sees why many others resent and resist the American occupation, and alternately how the American soldiers see their task in larger perspective. There is mercifully no spin control, no mealy-mouthed political dodging, no particular agenda.

I warmly recommend BattleGround to anyone and everyone -- excepting, perhaps, those with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The DVD has an extra thirty minutes of footage and other extras.

Today's Rune: Harvest.

Fiimaan illaah.