Sick Product of a Sick System

Instant Favorite.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

All films are the end product of someone's subjective bias. Who you give voice to, who you leave out, who you demonize, who you valorize - it's all subjective. What is authentic and closer to objectivity is a process where you make ethical, humanist choices. BfH does this by showing more than one side, having the Arab character's speak in their own voice, and suggesting culpability lies not only with individuals, but with political and ideological processes. The absurdity of having young, ill-informed, emotional Americans on the frontline of a battle they do not understand and are not invested in is clearly depicted. War was ever thus. The culpability of the viewer is also raised, in our mindless acceptance of the official view of these events that is heavily manipulated. It also asks us to read again films like 'Black Hawk Down' and question their simplistic propaganda message. The filmmaker's docudrama approach is straightforward and effective. Battle for Haditha is a difficult watch, but perhaps a necessary one to understand how we in the West have ended up in our current messed up times.

Two Iraqi ideologues blow up a Humveee with an IED and rush away to safety. The Marines retaliate by bashing their way through the nearby houses and "shooting everything that moves." A dozen or more innocents are killed on the spot. The result of the Americans' actions is dutifully filmed by al Qaeda agents and used as recruiting material. The Marine corporal in charge of the engagement is at first applauded for his leadership and recommended for promotion and a decoration and then, when the incident hits the American press, brought up on multiple charges of murder.It's a tough movie to watch. It's not preachy, although all points of view are presented, but the harsh irony is a bit much to bear. In many ways the most emblematic scene has an innocent young man running down a hill in the simmering and smoky aftermath of the shoot out. He's searching for his wife. But the Marines gun him down from a hundred yards away because, after all, what is an Iraqi man doing running at a time like this? It's at the least suspicious.But then his wife arrives, screaming, and throws herself on the dead body. Ramirez, who is leading the fire team, approaches her with his rifle ready and shouts at her to move away from the body. She doesn't understand English and he speaks no Arabic. The wife finally flings herself at Ramirez and begins beating his shoulders and for a moment it seems that she will be killed as well.That seems, to me anyway, to be the message of the film. Murky but powerful forces can bring together people who simply don't understand each other and the result is a blood bath.The Marines we meet are brash but sympathetic figures. True, they are kind of dumb, but then many of us are pretty dumb when it comes to situations like this. One leader calls the insurgents "cowards" because they hide among the women and children. The men may or may not know why they are in Iraq but it's not their job to know. Their job is to define the enemy and kill him.Complications arise when the "enemy" blends insensibly into the "innocent civilians." A woman or an adolescent child can carry a rifle or an explosive as easily as a fully grown man.Disregarding values and ideology, that problem is common to all armies of occupation. The Germans had similar problems in occupied countries like France, Yugoslavia, and Greece. And, like the Marines in Iraq, the insurgents were a disparate group drawn from different ideologies, some more extreme than others. The core of the Greek resistance, for example, wasn't al Qaeda -- it was the communists. And, as in Iraq, resistance from extremists was met with retaliation against ordinary citizens by the Germans.This isn't an expensive epic of a movie. It's not "Blackhawk Down" or anything. The production values are lower than that. And I understand it doesn't stick to historical fact. Some of the acting is weak and the dialog contrived. I don't believe any U. S. Marine has ever said, "I'll be haunted by this guilt for the rest of my life." The story isn't easily described as "sad" despite the numerous murders. "Tragic" is a better descriptive. The "bad guys" here aren't so much the Marines, or the active insurgents for that matter. It's the configuration of values and political decisions that have brought these two forces together in a state of conflict.

There are so many major compromising factors and inaccuracies, I have lost count. The movie in it's essence is fictional in every way. If you do you your research on Haditha you may end up being extremely disappointed at how upside down this movie is.In regards to the undertones of sympathy. The movie does portray actions and reactions from both sides. This is an innocent approach, if it were accurate! You must take into consideration that at the time, the attacks against the marines were conducted by LARGE groups of insurgents. The fabricated thought of a massacre initiated by two insurgents' IED is just obviously unrealistic. This has more sympathetic undertones to the two insurgents as opposed to the marines. Again, this would not be a bad thing if the movie was accurate. All in all it tends to be more sympathetic to the struggles of the insurgent.Another important factor is the over simplification of the story. It is the portrayal of a reaction from one event. Haditha had several events that lead to the mass influx of counterinsurgency. There's a reason why its called the "Battle of Haditha", because it was a battle! Not a little post-IED ambush. There were HUGE amounts of Insurgency and Coalition, hence why it is often compared to Fallujah. The story of Haditha is much more complicated, and it's frustrating that the director summed it up in such a black and white-tunnel visioned fashion.And here's me losing my composure.... For crying out loud people! Don't assume it's factual! It's really not a fair insight. It almost portrays U.S. forces as blood thirsty murderers at the same level as the SS. That's really not the case. Take it from an OIF veteran and just look it up! You didn't have to be there to know how extremely wrong this movie is!

In the Fall of 2005, in the village of Haditha, a roadside bomb was used to attack a Humvee and started a chain reaction leading to over two dozen deaths, most of them of Iraqi citizens(and few of them had anything to do with the explosive). That description only provides a superficial idea of what happened, which is why the 85 minute running time(sans credits) of this is devoted to showing all sides of, and properly explore, what went on. This doesn't judge anyone, it shows what happened(and the undisputed facts are followed quite closely, research it if you are unaware). We follow the Marine unit involved, a family celebrating a male circumcision, a young couple in love and the insurgents who buried the IED. The camera-work is not only hand-held, but truly evocative of documentaries(which makes sense, given the director and the intent; this is less a "dramatization" and more a "re-enactment"), and puts you right there in the thick of it all(with a few shots that are simply brilliant; one sequence has someone hiding under a bed when the room is "cleared", and it is shown through POV). This is incredibly absorbing, and unless you go into it with your mind made up and sockets clammed shut(yes, my Summary has a double meaning), you are affected by it. Not because it's manipulative, and it certainly is not propaganda. It isn't pushing any agenda, it's shining a light on a complex issue. This is not pro- or anti-US or terrorism. It's showing that there are human beings, with emotions and history, everywhere in this conflict. It doesn't downplay Al-Quaeda and doesn't glorify the soldiers. The acting is incredible(no exceptions). Ruiz is especially stunning. The focus on improvised dialog(always in the language it should be, with the non-English subtitled), and personal experiences used(several of the main cast have had military careers, some even in the country where this took place) help add to the great level of authenticity. It comes off as natural, unrehearsed(in the good way), real. You really feel the tragedy, without it feeling like emotional porn. The tension is effective. This has a fitting pace, gradually building up to the climax of the situation that we already know the outcome of(from the Times article, for one), and establishing truths, comfortable as well as not, along the way. There is a moderate amount of deeply disturbing, violent and bloody content in this. I recommend this to everyone mature enough to handle it. 8/10