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May 07, 2008
Battle For Haditha (2007, *** 1/2)
Nick Broomfield's Battle for Haditha, which depicts the notorious 2005 massacre of twenty-four Iraqi civilians draws on all the qualities of his decades-long practice as a documentary filmmaker, and its greatness may be indicated by the utter disinterest by U.S. distributors. Comparisons of its vérité approach to seeking 
all sides of the conflict have led to comparisons to Apocalypse Now, but its most direct forebear would be Gillo Pontecorvo's Battle of Algiers. Fearlessness in the pursuit of picturing the world is necessary. Writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times: "Even as he creates an almost unbearable level of tension in his film — mostly through deft parallel editing that draws the marines, the victims and the insurgents inexorably together — Mr. Broomfield maintains a level of cool detachment throughout. That’s to the good of the movie, which, though technically exemplary, falters dramatically on occasion, becoming dangerously close to overheated whenever the characters speak for any length. The performers apparently did a fair amount of improvisation, and too often their talk veers into exposition, which, however heartfelt and true, paradoxically sounds (badly) scripted. At times there is a kind of therapeutic quality to the entire enterprise, almost as if the marines, the Iraqis and Mr. Broomfield were collectively trying to work through a nightmare from which none have awakened." [Opens today in NYC at Film Forum; print via its international distrib, Hanway Films.]
Posted by Ray Pride at May 7, 2008 12:26 PM
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