Review: Gunner Palace
Gunner Palace is a documentary about Iraq. Unfortunately, my horrid ability to remember names has kicked in, rendering me unable to tell you which battallion it follows. I believe it's 2/3 FA. I know it's an artillery battallion originally created to blow up any invading Russian army. Regardless, said battallion, and more specificly Charley Battery is stationed in what they've named "Gunner Palace". It's a mansion that Saddam built for his first wife after the first Gulf War and later gave to his sone Uday.
The flick is a good documentray. That is to say NOT in the style of ass rod sensationalist fatty. Fortunately, my name curse has kicked in here too. Other than sounds of gunfire and a brief shoot out at the beginning of the movie, you get very little combat in the movie. The unit makes a number of arrests in the 90+ minutes, but that action happens primarily off screen. That means this is not a movie you go to for mindless entertainment.
I have to give props to the flick for not focusing on soldier death, either. There's one near tear jerker that actually takes place while the film maker is at home, cause he happened to close to the soldier in question, but that's about it.
Are you missing out on a crucial piece of the Iraq War if you don't catch Gunner Palace? Not really. Do you learn bunches about being a soldier in Iraq right now? Depends on what you know about being a soldier in the first place. Is there an underlying story to the whole thing? Nope.
Still, it's a good flick to see. You get a lot of soldiers rapping and rocking, you get a limited number of "put a human spin" questions on it, and you get a little feel for how Iraqis tend to react when there's an American news camera around. Most importantly, you get a real face to the soldiers, and most of them are pretty damn likeable. You get an idea of the grit. A little bit of the frustration of everyone involved comes through, soldiers and citizens alike. A whole lot of the confusion of the situation comes through, again on both sides. It's pretty clear that no one wants it to be the way it is, but everyone involved hopes that the end result is better than the lump of clay the sculptor started with. Let's hope our administration paid attention in pottery class.
Now, I've got to say, I love me some Landmark Theater. First of all, I didn't realize there was a full line of theaters that play nothing but independant films. Second, this is one of the rare flicks I went to that I actually want to see every film they showed a preview for, NONE of which I knew about to begin with. Most of all, I'm jonesing for "Dust to Glory" which is a pseudo documentray on the Baja 1000, a personal goal of mine since I was 7. My complete lack of training, rally experience and spare cash flow allowing for building a vehicle capable of such a feat probably means that flick is the closest I'll get. So, I'm there. April 8th it opens. I'll prolly have to wait and catch it April 11. I'm still there. I don't care. Cut off a finger for that flick if I have to. Thank you Landmark. Just call me One Thumb. Or mabye Unadigit. Actually, I like Crafty Nine Fingers. Hell, I'll cut off my middle finger and go by The Bird. Yeah, I like it.
So, to wrap things up, Gunner Palace. Good flick. Not great and certainly not date material. Catch it with your friends and bitch about the guy that says "After this, you'll go talk about the things I say with your friends. But then you'll forget me." And remember him next time the pizza's late (you'll know what I mean if you watch the movie.)
The flick is a good documentray. That is to say NOT in the style of ass rod sensationalist fatty. Fortunately, my name curse has kicked in here too. Other than sounds of gunfire and a brief shoot out at the beginning of the movie, you get very little combat in the movie. The unit makes a number of arrests in the 90+ minutes, but that action happens primarily off screen. That means this is not a movie you go to for mindless entertainment.
I have to give props to the flick for not focusing on soldier death, either. There's one near tear jerker that actually takes place while the film maker is at home, cause he happened to close to the soldier in question, but that's about it.
Are you missing out on a crucial piece of the Iraq War if you don't catch Gunner Palace? Not really. Do you learn bunches about being a soldier in Iraq right now? Depends on what you know about being a soldier in the first place. Is there an underlying story to the whole thing? Nope.
Still, it's a good flick to see. You get a lot of soldiers rapping and rocking, you get a limited number of "put a human spin" questions on it, and you get a little feel for how Iraqis tend to react when there's an American news camera around. Most importantly, you get a real face to the soldiers, and most of them are pretty damn likeable. You get an idea of the grit. A little bit of the frustration of everyone involved comes through, soldiers and citizens alike. A whole lot of the confusion of the situation comes through, again on both sides. It's pretty clear that no one wants it to be the way it is, but everyone involved hopes that the end result is better than the lump of clay the sculptor started with. Let's hope our administration paid attention in pottery class.
Now, I've got to say, I love me some Landmark Theater. First of all, I didn't realize there was a full line of theaters that play nothing but independant films. Second, this is one of the rare flicks I went to that I actually want to see every film they showed a preview for, NONE of which I knew about to begin with. Most of all, I'm jonesing for "Dust to Glory" which is a pseudo documentray on the Baja 1000, a personal goal of mine since I was 7. My complete lack of training, rally experience and spare cash flow allowing for building a vehicle capable of such a feat probably means that flick is the closest I'll get. So, I'm there. April 8th it opens. I'll prolly have to wait and catch it April 11. I'm still there. I don't care. Cut off a finger for that flick if I have to. Thank you Landmark. Just call me One Thumb. Or mabye Unadigit. Actually, I like Crafty Nine Fingers. Hell, I'll cut off my middle finger and go by The Bird. Yeah, I like it.
So, to wrap things up, Gunner Palace. Good flick. Not great and certainly not date material. Catch it with your friends and bitch about the guy that says "After this, you'll go talk about the things I say with your friends. But then you'll forget me." And remember him next time the pizza's late (you'll know what I mean if you watch the movie.)
posted by Amazing Shafeman at 6:10 PM
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