Benefit
Bluelighter
Gunner Palace is a documentary from a somewhat untalented documentary filmmaker named Michael Tucker. It is about a US Army artillery unit stationed in central Baghdad as the insurgency begins to build in 2003 and 2004. They are based at one of Uday Hussein's bombed out palatial mansions, colloquially termed "Gunner Palace".
The editing, pacing and voice over are mediocre at best but even Michael Tucker's lame efforts in those departments can't sabotage this excellent film. And why is it excellent? Because Tucker somehow obtained total unrestricted access to this unit. He goes on raids with them, he goes on patrols with them, he films them in the streets, he films inside their command posts, films them taking prisoners. He very intelligently lets the film speak for itself; the soldiers speak and act candidly. Certainly, some of them ham it up for the cameras, but I do believe the film offers a mostly genuine glimpse into the life of a soldier in Baghdad.
This documentary had a limited release and not very much buzz, which is unfortunate but not surprising. See this movie.
The editing, pacing and voice over are mediocre at best but even Michael Tucker's lame efforts in those departments can't sabotage this excellent film. And why is it excellent? Because Tucker somehow obtained total unrestricted access to this unit. He goes on raids with them, he goes on patrols with them, he films them in the streets, he films inside their command posts, films them taking prisoners. He very intelligently lets the film speak for itself; the soldiers speak and act candidly. Certainly, some of them ham it up for the cameras, but I do believe the film offers a mostly genuine glimpse into the life of a soldier in Baghdad.
This documentary had a limited release and not very much buzz, which is unfortunate but not surprising. See this movie.
