"Green Zone" review by Ben Kenber

It was the teaming of Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass that made me almost completely forget that “Green Zone” was yet another movie about our current war in Iraq. I find myself, as well as many others I know, avoiding this subject at the movies because we spend so much of our days thinking about what goes on over there, and of how we want this war to be over with already. But this director and actor were major forces behind some of the most exciting action movies of the past decade with “The Bourne Supremacy” and “The Bourne Ultimatum,” Furthermore, the composer of the Bourne trilogy, John Powell, is on board as well to give the movie an even bigger kinetic kick. We all appear to agree on that the reason for being at war in Iraq, that Saddam having a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction (WMD’s) was a lie, but that doesn’t begin to tell us the whole story.

“Green Zone” is said to have been inspired by the non-fiction 2006 book “Imperial Life in the Emerald City” by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, but the end credits spell out that the movie is actually a work of fiction. Still, while it is not exactly “based on a true story” (thank god they didn’t use that mantra for this one), “Green Zone” still feels like one of the more logical and honest commentaries about our current mess of a war in the Middle East.

Matt Damon stars as Army Chief warrant officer Roy Miller, and we see him with his unit as they investigate a warehouse believed to contain WMD’s inside. Turns out that it doesn’t, and we quickly find that this is not the first time Miller and his men have come up empty. As a result, Miller begins to seriously doubt the intelligence reports that have been provided to the troops from a “reliable” but anonymous source. Endlessly curious about why he and every other military officer are not finding any weapons, and with the odds of finding them becoming as bad as getting the winning Lotto number, Miller starts his own little investigation into the matter. At the same time, forces around him continue to try and contain a potentially combustible situation that may soon become possible to control in the slightest.

Could this film be seen as “The Bourne Conspiracy”? Well, almost. Like Jason Bourne, Roy Miller is searching for the truth. Jason was looking for his true identity, and Roy is looking to find the truth about WMD’s so that the American armed forces can seize them before Saddam and his top officials do more damage. Neither one ends up being completed satisfied with the answers they get.

It’s no wonder that Greengrass chose to work again with Damon on this film. Ever since “The Bourne Identity,” we have had no real problems in accepting the “Good Will Hunting” actor as an action hero (we were much more dubious about it back then). What makes him perfect for these kinds of roles is that Damon never descends into some clichéd portrayal of a soldier who thinks he’s all badass. Roy Miller is a down to earth kind of guy who is sincere in his quest to keep America safe from enemies foreign and domestice. Never does he try to be a hero or show off how macho he is; Miller is just a guy doing the job he enlisted to perform.

What I really liked about “Green Zone” among other things is how it shows how the Iraq war is a complete mess even while we go into the movie theater already knowing this. I mean, how much do we really know about what’s going on over there anyway? We can’t believe everything we read in the paper, and while we think we are experts on the war and the military, something usually comes along to remind us that we are not even close to understanding what’s really happening.

You have the soldiers coming up empty, you have the CIA knowing that they will come up empty and not sure why, and you have special intelligence who knows far more than they are willing to let their own military be aware of. In the midst of all this, you have investigative reporters writing articles on Saddam having started up weapons programs again even though they have never been told who the source of this news is. They have to take the word of an official who ends up leading them around in circles. No wonder America is in such a political rut right now; everyone is trying to cover their ass and stay ahead of the blame game. Granted, the movie takes place in Baghdad around the beginning of the invasion in 2003, but a lot of the problems shown here are just as bad today.

Now there are a lot of people out there who have already been calling this movie “anti-American” and “anti-war,” but I couldn’t agree with that sentiment any less. Most of the recent movies dealing with war are more respectful to the troops than people bother to realize. As for those who assume that it is appallingly “anti-American” as it shows Roy Miller going rogue against his superiors (particularly Greg Kinnear’s character) in getting the information he wants. I wonder if those same critics had a problem when Jack Bauer does the same thing on “24.”

If anything, a lot of the recent war movies and have been more anti-mercenary than anything else. Be it “Green Zone,” “The Hurt Locker,” or even “Rambo,” mercenaries are shown stepping all over the soldiers if they have to, and we have since come to know that they make about twice of what the average working class soldier gets paid each year. The soldiers in these films have been presented as far more prepared and much more patriotic in their commitment to protecting our country. With the mercenaries, you get the impression that they wouldn’t even be fighting in the war if they weren’t making close to six figures. In comparison, the troops of the armed forces come off looking much better. Now if that isn’t pro-troop, then I don’t know what is.

It should also go without saying that there is a complexity to both the American and Iraqi characters throughout the film. You figure everyone would be on the same team regardless of what side they are on, but you come to see all the infighting that is tearing each side apart as they delude themselves into believing they are winning. One of the most pivotal characters in “Green Zone” is Freddy, an Iraqi who Miller befriends and who later becomes his translator. Hollywood has often been accused of presenting Middle Eastern characters as nothing more than terrorists, but Freddy is not like that. In his own way, Freddy wants to help his country, and he risks his own life to try to help the Americans while not necessarily welcoming them to where he lives. Freddy ends up becoming the symbol of those Iraqis who feel wronged by their leaders, and of how infuriated they are about the endless damage that they constantly leave in their horrific wake. From a distance, it becomes clear that both sides are confused and become almost completely unsure of what to believe.

In some ways, you could also say that “Green Zone” is a criticism of American military involvement in other countries, but director Greengrass doesn’t necessarily hit you over the head with that. Still, during the scene where Miller comes face to face with General Al-Rawi (Yigal Naor gives the role a good menacing quality), Miller comes to learn the truth of why military forces are really in Iraq. Al-Rawi is one of the bad guys, but he is also a victim of being in the position he is in. In other words, Al-Rawi is going to take a fall only because the US government wants Saddam. While he may have told the truth about WMD’s, he was confessing to a political opportunist with deaf ears.

When Al-Rawi asks Roy Miller if he thinks American forces can seriously change anything in Iraq, I was quickly reminded of a similar scene in Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down” where a helicopter pilot is being held by Somalia warlords who end up question the military’s involvement in their country:

“Do you think if you get General Aidid, we will simply put down our weapons and adopt American democracy? That the killing will stop? We know this. Without victory, there will be no peace. There will always be killing, see? This is how things are in our world.”

Once again, American foreign policy is rendered almost useless as the troops deal with unfamiliar territory. It doesn’t matter if technology has advanced so much over the years, our soldiers are still strangers in a foreign land. After all these years, do we really still believe we can change the tide of things?

Throughout his career, Paul Greengrass has never been afraid of backing down from topics that feel very touchy. With “Bloody Sunday,” he captured the horrible events of January 20, 1972 when British soldiers clashed with Northern Ireland protestors who were fighting for their freedom. But perhaps the best example of Greengrass dealing with uncomfortable subjects was when he made “United 93” which dealt with the events of September 11^th and of how the passengers on that fateful flight were the first to deal with a post-World Trade Center world. Some thought it was too soon for a 9/11 movie (myself included), but Greengrass succeeded in making an incredibly powerful movie that honored the lives of those who perished while fighting to take control of the hijacked plane, and it proved to be as brilliant as it was emotionally draining.

Any other director making an Iraq war movie would probably have me running in the other direction to “Cop Out” or “Alice In Wonderland” (two movies I should have seen already), but not Greengrass. With “Green Zone,” he defies those who think that film should just be an escape and not a forum for national conversation. It’s an action movie that is designed to be as thrilling as it is enlightening. His aim is not to show how America divided itself from the rest of the world with this invasion, but of how it created sharp and highly sensitive divisions in America itself.

In addition to Matt Damon, there are several other actors who bring their considerable acting talents to “Green Zone.” Brendan Gleeson is perfectly cast as Martin Brown, the CIA Baghdad bureau chief who has seen it all. Still, he is trying to cut through the BS that is hindering his efforts of controlling the situation in Iraq. Amy Ryan (so damn good in “Gone Baby Gone”) is excellent as Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent Lawrie Dayne. Her character has written many articles regarding weapons programs being continued in Saddam’s regime, but we see her doubt the source that has given her what she thought was reliable information. Most reporters in movies these days are despicable, but Ryan makes this one empathetic as she comes to discover the truth while it contradicts all she has reported. The always reliable Greg Kinnear is well cast as Clark Poundstone, a member of Pentagon Special Intelligence who knows far more than he lets on.

It’s no secret that these characters are based on real people, but of course the names have been changed to protect the guilty.

“Green Zone” isn’t quite as viscerally exciting as the Jason Bourne movies, and it won’t go down as the definitive Iraq war movie (“The Hurt Locker” holds that distinctive honor), but it is still edge of your seat entertainment from a director who doesn’t even try to hold his camera in one place for very long. But not to worry, Greengrass films the action in a way that doesn’t make it all that hard to tell what’s going on. It also has that adrenaline racing score by composer John Powell which I am hoping to find on CD for far less than its $15.99 retail price.

Another key scene that comes to mind from this movie is when Roy Miller goes out to investigate a lead, and Kinnear’s character ends up cutting him off and cancelling his transfer to Brown’s CIA team. As he walks inside the CIA headquarters in Baghdad, he tells Miller,

“You shouldn’t have been playing on the wrong team.”

It makes me wonder, when was the last time all of us Americans were on the same team?

***½ out of ****