The documentary, “The War Tapes,” was shown to a standing room only crowd in Boyd 144 on Wednesday, November 1. “The War Tapes” is a documentary that illuminates the lives of American soldiers in Iraq. What makes this documentary so unique, though, is that the soldiers were the ones behind the camera.
This is a first person view from the eyes of a soldier in Iraq. Out of the three soldiers featured in the movie, only one openly calls himself a patriot, Specialist Mike Moriarty. For the most part, the documentary remains politically unbiased, mi-nus some of the joking input from the soldiers about protecting the KBR and Halliburton convoys and shines a light on the idea that the war is about money.
The documentary shows you lots of things you don’t see in the newspaper: close shots of corpses, the soldiers’ one-on-one interactions with the Iraqi people, the recently added Pizza Huts and Burger Kings, and the American bases in Iraq.
The film also focuses on the opposite end of the war, showing in-depth coverage of the soldiers’ loved ones coping with them being away, as well as the soldiers putting their lives on the line day after day. This part of the film focused on several person stories. One soldier’s mother was shown going through the hardships a mother faces in this situation. Another focused on a serviceman’s girlfriend. The last focused on a soldier’s family worrying about him every day.
A special addition to the night was Sgt. Steven Pink, a Plymouth State University graduate and one of the soldiers featured in the fi lm. At the end of the film, Pink is shown dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and refusing help. He didn’t realize he needed help until he saw the fi nished documentary; the question and answer sessions following the showings he attended were therapeutic for him.
Since his tour of duty, Pink said his view of the entire situation over in Iraq has taken a 180-degree turn and he looks at thingsvery cynically now. This can easily be seen at the end of the movie where he is talking about getting reprimanded for letting a dog off of the street eat one of the dead insurgents. “Good for him,” says Pink, “I hope he went home with a full stomach.” When asked about his opinion of the war now, he said he thinks it is worse off than when it started.
The documentary did a good job showing people that have never been in a wartime situation what the life of an active soldier is like. Seeing this film will help people, no matter their political views, because it will help them better understand what exactly is going on. The war tapes was critically acclaimed by the Hollywood Reporter, the BBC news, The New York Times,The San Francisco Chronicles, and The Washington Post, among many others, and won the award for “Best Documentary” at the Tribeca Film Festival.