[R-G] At a cinema near you: the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan

[Anthony Fenton]

Copyright 2007 Agence France Presse
All Rights Reserved
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Agence France Presse -- English

August 19, 2007 Sunday 7:04 AM GMT

LENGTH: 788 words

HEADLINE: At a cinema near you: the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan

BYLINE: Rob Woollard

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES, Aug 19 2007

BODY:


Encouraged by widespread opposition to the conflict in Iraq,  
Hollywood film-makers are preparing to unleash an unprecedented wave  
of war movies on cinema-goers.

In a notable break with the past -- where anti-war films were  
released several years after the conflict in question -- a whole new  
genre has been created even while US troops remain on the front lines  
of the "War on Terror."

The release in the United States next month of "In the Valley of  
Elah", a gritty drama from Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis about  
the murder of an Iraq war veteran, signals the start of the onslaught.

The film is one of several that is going to test the willingness of  
movie-goers to embrace dramas about sensitive subjects such as post  
9/11 security and the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Several upcoming films follow the plight of Iraq war veterans. After  
"In the Valley of Elah," "Grace is Gone," starring John Cusack, which  
earned glowing reviews at the Sundance Film Festival, is due for  
release in October.

The movie tells the story of a man whose wife is killed during  
service in Iraq and the challenges his family faces.

Cusack has said his desire to make the film was born out of anger at  
the decision by the Pentagon to ban publication of photos showing  
flag-draped coffins returning from battlefields.

"I feel that people will be interested in seeing the story of the  
human cost of this war. Not just in terms of the soldiers fighting,  
but the civilian leadership," Cusack said.

Other films on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the broader  
issues of post-9/11 security include November's Robert Redford- 
directed "Lions for Lambs," starring Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep,  
Brian De Palma's "Redacted" and Gavin Hood's "Rendition."

"Rendition" stars Reese Witherspoon as the wife of an Egyptian-born  
chemical engineer who is arrested without charge and whisked off to a  
secret detention facility to be quizzed by the CIA.

The spate of films will continue through 2008, with Kimberly Peirce's  
"Stop Loss," about a veteran who refuses to return to Iraq due out in  
March, as well as "The Hurt Locker," which recently began filming in  
Jordan and Iraq.

Darrell West, an expert in politics and the mass media at Brown  
University, told AFP that the spate of films was a reflection of  
widespread unpopularity with the war in Iraq.

"Anti-war movies are coming out now because public opinion has  
crystallised against the war," professor West said.

"It's safe for Hollywood to make these kind of movies without risking  
much of a backlash. There's always a risk when you make an anti-war  
movie in the middle of the war that people are going to be ticked off.

"But now, with two-thirds of Americans thinking that the war in Iraq  
was a mistake, it's the perfect time to release these kinds of movies.

"There's been a tremendous change in American public opinion over the  
last two years.

"In 2004, Bush was re-elected based on the war on terrorism but now  
the administration is seen as having mangled foreign policy and put  
the country into a mess. So it's safe to take on the administration  
in a way that it would not have been two or three years ago."

Mark Boal, who wrote the script for "The Hurt Locker," said films  
could present a view of the Iraq war not found in other mainstream  
media.

"We wanted to show the kinds of things that soldiers go through that  
you can't see on CNN, and I don't mean that in a censorship- 
conspiracy way," he told the Hollywood Reporter. "I just mean the  
news doesn't actually put photographers in with units that are this  
elite."

"Most war movies don't come out until the war was over ... It's  
really exciting for me, coming out of the world of journalism, to  
have a movie come out about a conflict while the conflict is still  
going on."

Although the Vietnam War spawned a series of classic films such as  
"Apocalypse Now," "The Deer Hunter" and "Platoon," they did not  
appear in cinemas until years after the end of the 1975 conflict.

Lew Harris, the editor of Movies.com, attributed the fact that films  
about Iraq were being released while the war was raging to a more  
politicised Hollywood.

"Hollywood's much more political now and less afraid to speak out,"  
Harris told AFP. "The film-makers and actors themselves are far more  
politicised than they were in the 1960s."

"There is a much greater frustration now about the war because so  
many people are against it and yet it just keeps going on."

But Harris warned that the success of the films would ultimately  
hinge on their ability to entertain.

"I think if it's good entertainment and the actors are good then they  
will be successful," Harris warned.

"But if a film looks like something where the audience is going to be  
hit on the head with messages then they won't."