THOSE WHO think "Green Zone" is an action-packed thriller like Matt Damon's "Bourne" series will be disappointed as it's actually more of a political movie that attacks Washington's deliberate manipulation of the truth to have a valid reason in invading Iraq. This is based on the book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City" written by former Washington Post correspondent in Baghdad, Rajiv Chandrasekaran.
It's common knowledge that the U.S. attacked Iraq in 2003 reportedly because Sadaam Hussein has amassed WMD (weapons on mass destruction). But no WMD was ever found. "Green Zone" is set in Baghdad (but the movie was actually filmed in Morocco) and scriptwriter Brian Helgeland has cooked up a fictional story that confirms speculations that the U.S. just lied about the presence of WMD's.
The film is told from the point of view of Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon), an army weapons inspector whose job is to hunt down WMD's in Iraq. But he's getting frustrated as all the locations he and his men have been to yielded no WMD's. Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear), the defense department bureaucrat in charge of U.S. government operations in Iraq, says that the findings on WMD's are accurate, as told to them by an informant called Magellan.
An Iraqi named Frankie (Khalid Abdalla) informs Roy that an officer of the Iraqi Republic Guard is going to a nearby house, Gen. Al Rawi (Igal Naor). Roy wants to get Al Rawi to personally question him about WMD's. But soon, he learns that he, too, is being hunted down by his fellow American soldiers. With the help of a Wall Street Journal writer, Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan of "Gone Baby Gone"), he learns that Poundstone lied about WMD's and now wants to have Al Rawi killed to silence him.
Director Paul Greengrass changed the names in the book to fictionalize the real life characters mentioned in it. But it's said that Roy Miller's character is based on soldier Monty Gonzalez while Poundstone represents U.S. bureaucrat Paul Bremmer from the Pentagon and journalist Dayne is the alter ego of Judity Miller of the The New York Times. "Green Zone" has been crafted like the usual thriller about a good man who discovers that he is deceived by conspiracy and corruption and aims to uncover the truth.
It's clear that Roy Miller is a hero and Poundstone and his cohorts are evil villains. "Green Zone" is a reminder of how the U.S. botched up their aim of establishing democracy in Iraq with a puppet government after the fall of Saddam, and the violent and protacted armed conflicts and acts of terrorism that followed it and continue up to this very day.
Greengrass is known for his trademark shaky handheld camera cinematography in the "Bourne" thrillers and he uses that again here. After a while, this jarring cinema verite style can give you a headache as it's an often incoherent and chaotic style of telling the story on screen. The climax is a frenetic chase scene on foot in a heavily armed insurgent stronghold between Miller and the Army's special forces who also want to get Al Rawi aka Magellan. The level of tension here is not as effective as in a similar thriller, "The Kingdom" with Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner.
Matt Damon is credible as Roy Miller, who is like Jason Bourne in that he's also deceived by the government people he works for. You can really trust him and root for him as the morally upright and action-oriented hero. This movie could very well be tagged as "Jason Bourne in Iraq", but minus the amnesia. Greg Kinnear also serves his role well as the duplicitous bureaucrat while Kahlid Abdalla steals the climax as an idealistic Iraqi who has his own ideas about his country.
It's too bad that American audiences don't agree with the ideas of Greengrass who wants this to be a wake up call for them, as seen in the warning to Roy MIller: "Don't be naive". It looks they are not really that excited to pay to see an Iraq War film, just like "The Hurt Locker" whose Oscar Awards didn't turn it into a box office blockbuster. Many Americans really believe that their soldiers are indeed making a sacrifice while fighting in Iran and Hollywood filmmakers should be made aware of this.
It's common knowledge that the U.S. attacked Iraq in 2003 reportedly because Sadaam Hussein has amassed WMD (weapons on mass destruction). But no WMD was ever found. "Green Zone" is set in Baghdad (but the movie was actually filmed in Morocco) and scriptwriter Brian Helgeland has cooked up a fictional story that confirms speculations that the U.S. just lied about the presence of WMD's.
The film is told from the point of view of Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon), an army weapons inspector whose job is to hunt down WMD's in Iraq. But he's getting frustrated as all the locations he and his men have been to yielded no WMD's. Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear), the defense department bureaucrat in charge of U.S. government operations in Iraq, says that the findings on WMD's are accurate, as told to them by an informant called Magellan.
An Iraqi named Frankie (Khalid Abdalla) informs Roy that an officer of the Iraqi Republic Guard is going to a nearby house, Gen. Al Rawi (Igal Naor). Roy wants to get Al Rawi to personally question him about WMD's. But soon, he learns that he, too, is being hunted down by his fellow American soldiers. With the help of a Wall Street Journal writer, Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan of "Gone Baby Gone"), he learns that Poundstone lied about WMD's and now wants to have Al Rawi killed to silence him.
Director Paul Greengrass changed the names in the book to fictionalize the real life characters mentioned in it. But it's said that Roy Miller's character is based on soldier Monty Gonzalez while Poundstone represents U.S. bureaucrat Paul Bremmer from the Pentagon and journalist Dayne is the alter ego of Judity Miller of the The New York Times. "Green Zone" has been crafted like the usual thriller about a good man who discovers that he is deceived by conspiracy and corruption and aims to uncover the truth.
It's clear that Roy Miller is a hero and Poundstone and his cohorts are evil villains. "Green Zone" is a reminder of how the U.S. botched up their aim of establishing democracy in Iraq with a puppet government after the fall of Saddam, and the violent and protacted armed conflicts and acts of terrorism that followed it and continue up to this very day.
Greengrass is known for his trademark shaky handheld camera cinematography in the "Bourne" thrillers and he uses that again here. After a while, this jarring cinema verite style can give you a headache as it's an often incoherent and chaotic style of telling the story on screen. The climax is a frenetic chase scene on foot in a heavily armed insurgent stronghold between Miller and the Army's special forces who also want to get Al Rawi aka Magellan. The level of tension here is not as effective as in a similar thriller, "The Kingdom" with Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner.
Matt Damon is credible as Roy Miller, who is like Jason Bourne in that he's also deceived by the government people he works for. You can really trust him and root for him as the morally upright and action-oriented hero. This movie could very well be tagged as "Jason Bourne in Iraq", but minus the amnesia. Greg Kinnear also serves his role well as the duplicitous bureaucrat while Kahlid Abdalla steals the climax as an idealistic Iraqi who has his own ideas about his country.
It's too bad that American audiences don't agree with the ideas of Greengrass who wants this to be a wake up call for them, as seen in the warning to Roy MIller: "Don't be naive". It looks they are not really that excited to pay to see an Iraq War film, just like "The Hurt Locker" whose Oscar Awards didn't turn it into a box office blockbuster. Many Americans really believe that their soldiers are indeed making a sacrifice while fighting in Iran and Hollywood filmmakers should be made aware of this.
