Here’s a small example of one of many scenes I found fascinating in the documentary “Gunner Palace” (2004): It's a Thursday in Baghdad, and the American soldiers hear gunfire. This is normal. Weddings take place on Thursday, and the gunfire is celebratory.
"Gunner Palace" chronicles the day-to-day lives of U.S. Army personnel occupying post-war Iraq. The film gave me a much different look at the situation than the one I had been getting by watching television.
As best as I can tell, the movie takes no position on the American involvement in Iraq; instead, it focuses on a few specific Americans performing military duty there. They are members of an artillery unit—thus they can be called gunners—that has set up in a bombed-out Baghdad palace. Hence the film's title.
But "Gunner Palace" takes place after major combat has ended, so the artillery unit's special expertise in the use of large-caliber weapons isn't needed. Instead, it must pitch in and help deal with the general problem that insurgents remain active in a country that is in shambles and wracked with unrest. It seems to me the unit's primary mission turns out to be to function rather like an ultra-aggressive urban police force.
But for me, it's the details that make the documentary so compelling. One example is a raid to apprehend members of a mortar cell. American soldiers enter what is apparently some sort of a social club filled with men and take into custody a few they call the "bad guys." Then before leaving, the American commanding officer says to the men left behind in the club, "Salaam alaikum." ("Peace be with you.") But what makes the scene so memorable is that the men in the club respond with civility, wishing the officer peace as well.
I also found "Gunner Palace" to be visually interesting. The artillery unit is based in a palace that was used by Saddam Hussein's son Uday, and the American soldiers use the swimming pool, putting green, and stocked fishing pond. This is located in the contentious Adhamiya sector of Baghdad, which contains the Abu Hanifa Mosque, the city's most revered Sunni mosque. The area has a very active market square, which the Americans must constantly patrol in Humvees.
There's lots of hand-held camera work, and the editing is deliberately jumpy. I think this is fitting, though, because it captures the spirit of the American soldiers' chaotic lives. If you've ever seen the television show "Cops," you'll have a pretty good idea of how many of the scenes in "Gunner Palace" look.
The filmmakers, Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein, also make good use of the spoken word. For example, they give us several voice-over news reports from the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service. I don't think it's fair to characterize the AFRTS reports as inaccurate, yet there is a huge gap between what they are saying and what we see of the lives being lived by the American soldiers.
In addition to drama and humor, there's a certain amount of performance in "Gunner Palace." One soldier plays a little guitar, and others do some freestyle rap. The DVD includes audio tracks of three of the rap numbers: "Welcome to Gunner Palace," "For y'all this is just a Show, but we live in this Movie," and "Fresh Under Pressure."
Also on the DVD are 17 deleted scenes with a total running time of 28 minutes. To my way of thinking, the deleted scenes don't add much.
But "Gunner Palace" is an outstanding documentary that I believe should be seen by every American. Below I've listed all the special features of the "Gunner Palace" DVD.
DVD Details:
Release Date: June 28, 2005
Feature Run Time: 1 Hour 25 Minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for Strong Language Throughout, Violent Situations and Some Drug References
Widescreen (1.85:1), Color
English 2.0 Stereo
English 5.1 Surround
English Subtitles
17 Additional Scenes (28 min.)
Gunner Freestyles (3 Audio Tracks)
U.S. Theatrical Trailer
Weblinks
