The War Tapes

See it? Anyone?

I haven't yet, but I WILL see this film. Just released, approximately two weeks ago, The War Tapes is a documentary film about the Iraq War. Three soldiers provide footage, interviews, commentaries on their twelve month deployment to Iraq.

My veteran 'expert' opinion based on the trailer alone is that this film will do one thing for every viewer: it will provide a window into a world where few outsiders choose to go. As soldiers, we are always performing; it is our trained duty to do so. No embeded reporter, public affairs person, or "official" release will convey the minute details of heart-rending dilemma and turmoil facing soldiers in daily deployment happenings. The two minutes and nine seconds of trailer had me feeling my veteran identification like I never thought I could from a film clip. It was the fear, the anxiety... that feeling that something big is going to happen any second now, but not knowing when that will be, or who will be limbless or dead when it's over. Just the trailer footage is froth with that sort of anxious anticipation. Even in the moments when a crisis is present tense, there is anticipation -- and dread -- of another.

I would love for every family member and friend to join me in finding an opportunity to watch this film. Our country has 138,000 soldiers in Iraq right now, some of whom have deployed to Iraq for numerous rotations. Minnesota currently has approximately 2500 National Guard members deployed. I beg you: educate yourselves in as close to first-hand knowledge as you can get. Make yourselves feel, for ninety short minutes, a taste of this war that many of us take the option to forget -- or never know in the first place. Draw from understanding not the certainty of conclusion, but partake with the film's protagonists in the horror of bloody stalemate. This impact is wordless. and thick. and suffocating in its lack of resolution. As soon as I can, I will be watching. Join me?