by Chris Narkun
Daily Lobo
Whether you are pro-war or anti-war, whether you say you support the troops or not, you have no idea what it's like in Iraq.
Not that I know either, but that's what the soldiers who are the stars of "Gunner Palace" say when asked about the American public that spends so much time arguing over their presence in Baghdad.
Shot on digital video, the documentary is the result of the several months director Michael Tucker spent in fall 2003 and spring 2004 with soldiers living in Uday Hussein's bombed-out palace.
Their temporary home comes complete with a swimming pool, piles of rubble, ornate furniture, rats and high-ceiling love nests and is occasionally remodeled by the intermittent mortar strikes on the compound.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
The soldiers and their Iraqi allies patrol their corner of Baghdad, the dangerous Amariyah neighborhood. It features rock-throwing children, fiery preachers, crowded markets and plenty of Iraqis angry enough about the occupation to take up arms.
Footage of late-night raids intermingles with the freestyle raps and guitar playing of several of the soldiers, whose moments of creative expression serve as the film's soundtrack.
Tucker's narration is brief and almost purely explanatory, rarely intruding and never overshadowing the words and feelings of the soldiers he lives with.
It is the simple experience of hearing the soldiers speak that makes Tucker's film so exceptional and involving. He manages to get candid sentiment from the young men and women he films away from their superior officers and without the controversial distractions of more political filmmakers.
The soldiers, whose observations are so rarely available to the Americans they serve for, riff on topics as diverse as death, the lack of armor, their plans and their friends and families back home.
Some are in their 30s with wives and kids, while others are 19 years old, barely out of high school and disturbingly similar to the students in the dorm room next door, even with body armor and an M-60 machine gun.
The movie doesn't feature much in the way of explosive war footage in the vein of "Saving Private Ryan." Producers still had to fight for a PG-13 rating in spite of its truthful depiction of the soldier's profane musings. But "Gunner Palace" is just as compelling for its detailed view of the daily lives of a tiny percentage of Americans, those who actually live in the 30-second evening news reports that until now have been the main window into the war in Iraq.
