Review: Green Zone (2010)

[Tim Skirvin]

  _Green Zone_ is an adaptation of "Imperial Life in the Emerald
City", with the "minor" change being that this time the story is fictional.
Before the movie came out, I heard more hype surrounding the politics of
_Green Zone_ than I did about the movie itself.  This is a bit surprising;
after all, the trailers made it out to be _Bourne IV: The Iraqening_, and
the media usually eats that kind of thing up.  Certainly, the movie has a
point of view, and displays it every chance it can.  That view: that the
United States government's rationale for and actions regarding the Iraq War
were fundamentally flawed.  In certain circles, this argument is not just
uncontroversial, but hardly worth discussing; in others, it is near
treasonous.  In this case, a shrill cry of "ANTI-AMERICA!" drowned out all
else, and the meta-narrative quickly became more important than the movie
itself.

  This is a shame, because the movie actually did a fairly good job
of balancing the politics and the thriller.

  This worked in large part by intentionally echoing the Bourne
movies (a series in which I liked the parts more than the whole).  It wasn't
just that the movie starred Matt Damon and had a lot of shaky-cam; there
were also the connections to the intelligence world and the media, the
questionable loyalties, the tenseness, the fast-paced plot.  Most prominent,
though, was the sense of place: at all times, the movie felt like it was
taking place in a specific city, and usually specific districts *within*
this city.  Baghdad felt *real*; and if the movie truly had a strength, it
was this.

  Of course, this style of movie carries a lot of baggage with it as
well.  The shaky-cam was as egregious as ever, though I'm clearly getting
used to it.  The action pieces were a bit overly-long and dramatic, which
didn't quite fit the feel that the story seemed to be going for.  Some of
the character stereotypes that are called for by this kind of story - the
Lone American Hero, the Inside Man, the Relentless Hidden Villain, the
Smarmy Henchman - don't fit quite so well this kind of story.  And the
wheels-within-wheels plot points don't go well with the theme of
governmental incompetence.

  My major gripe with the movie is that it over-played the conspiracy
angle.  We know that things didn't go particularly well in Iraq; was it
really necessary to suggest that this was because of malice instead of
simple incompetence?  Yes, it was interesting to show the hunt for WMDs
going badly, to see the questionable decisions regarding Iraq's future, to
witness the excesses and the disconnect between the troops, contractors,
commanders, and civilians; does it really matter much, in that context,
whether the necessary information is being hidden rather than just being
obscure?  Did we really gain anything to assume malice rather than
incompetence?

  All of that said, did I like it?  Well, mostly.  I didn't come out
feeling enlightened; I also didn't come out furious.  I suppose that, given
the subject matter, that's an impressive feat on its own.  

  ** 3/4

                           - Tim Skirvin (tskirvin at killfile.org)
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