Why Is The Best Feature About Iraq Still Without US Distribution?

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14 Responses to “Why Is The Best Feature About Iraq Still Without US Distribution?”

1. Me says:

   January 30, 2008 at 7:52 pm

   Because American audiences don’t want documentaries about Iraq, don’t want fictional films about Iraq, don’t want metaphors about Iraq in their films. Hell, American audiences don’t even want to pay attention to information about Iraq on the nightly news. After wasting millions of dollars, I think the distributors are starting to catch on. (Unless of course you count that Matt Damon/Amy Adams one that got greenlit somehow…)
2. Roman says:

   January 30, 2008 at 8:39 pm

   If you’d at least seen the trailer you’d know it’s not a documentary. It got a good buzz in Toronto, so hopefully eventually it’ll get picked up.
3. Direwolf says:

   January 30, 2008 at 9:09 pm

   Because America as a whole can’t face up to the fact that we lost in Iraq. Bad enough it was wrong in the first place. Even worse that we screwed it up. Liberals already know the story these movies tell us. Conservatives don’t want to face the pain of reality.
   I really don’t mean this as a political statement. Just my view of why these movies are failing to find an audience.
4. gogo says:

   January 30, 2008 at 9:27 pm

   I don’t want to see that film. I’ve read the article in the New Yorker, I’ve seen the piece on CNN, I’ve read about it in the New-York Times, it’s painfull and ugly, Horrible. I Know the war is a mistake, I know some soldiers have done attrocious things, children have been killed, women raped, lives destroyed…
   Maybe I’m wrong but I just don’t want to spend some time watching a horrible story that is still unfolding in real life while I’m sitting confortably eating a pop-corn.
   I don’t like torture-porn. I don’t like war-porn.
5. Malone says:

   January 30, 2008 at 9:37 pm

   Whatever happened to Pat Dollard?
   The huge VF article about his Iraq war film and his “antics,” a little love from Jeff W, and it’s like he fell off the face of the earth.
   Anybody know anything?
6. Aris P says:

   January 30, 2008 at 11:12 pm

   Malone — one of the most entertaining articles I’ve ever read in my life, and I read pretty much all of them. Not sure how “sympathetic” Dollard would be in a film, ergo, nothing will ever come of it.
   Also I’m thinking that “a little love from Jeff W” might not have been such a good thing, all things considered.
7. jeffmcm says:

   January 30, 2008 at 11:36 pm

   Pat Dollard is alive and kicking and turning his footage into a reality show under the banner of Scott Free Films.
   I can tell you much more about what he’s up to beyond that.
8. LexG says:

   January 31, 2008 at 1:00 am

   Does this one use LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR in the trailer?
   Because STOP-LOSS does, and that trailer OWNS.
   LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR, BITCH!
   I’ll again observe that NO ONE on this site is fucking METAL or HARDCORE at ALL, but BODIES by DROWNING POOL is the best song ever.
   GET METAL, WEAK BITCHES.
   Poland, OBVIOUSLY you wouldn’t lower yourself to answer this question, but do you ever listen to METAL?
   People who don’t listen to METAL are usually douchebags.
   Distorted E-string power chord thrash 4 Life.
   ALL other music is for bitches.
9. jeffmcm says:

   January 31, 2008 at 1:10 am

   Lex, you and Pat Dollard would get along well.
10. Tofu says:

    January 31, 2008 at 1:36 am

    That was… Weak. B-grade delivery, on the level of The Hills Have Eyes 2. Not terrible enough to be insulting, but not executed well enough to draw you in at all.
11. hendhogan says:

    January 31, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    this is an exercise in futitlity. too many people enter the debate with set, preconceived notions on both sides of the ledger.
    the liberals will claim it’s denial over what really happens in iraq. the conservatives will claim it’s tired of the slated reporting coming out of iraq.
    most people go to the movies for entertainment. when it comes to iraq, too many doubt the intentions of the filmmakers (rightly or wrongly) on both sides of the aisle. when there’s a fundamental lack of trust between the audience and the filmmaker, there’s no way these films can be successful financially.
12. Nicol D says:

    January 31, 2008 at 3:35 pm

    Hendhogan,
    Well put.
    It will be at least a generation or so before we can really tell good stories about what happened in Iraq. Right now, for better or for worse, the dust has not settled and both sides do not want to even explore the opposing sides. SImilarly, Hollywood is just not moderate enough to be as comlplex and nuanced as these films really need to be.
    That is why Stone’s Bush film is also useless. It takes time to get perspective in anything regardless of your politics. That is just a truism. When you are in the thick of it, either side just reeks of propaganda.
13. brack says:

    January 31, 2008 at 3:42 pm

    Maybe because the movies are so serious. The answer would then be….an Iraq comedy? *shrugs*
14. hendhogan says:

    January 31, 2008 at 4:38 pm

    Maybe because the movies are so serious. The answer would then be….an Iraq comedy? *shrugs*
    maybe we can repurpose the “operation dumbo drop” script!