PHOTO | UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
Any films on recent history tend to be a tricky endeavor. The timeliness makes for relevancy, but mining modern events and issues for entertainment value can seem exploitative. Green Zone addresses the complexities of why the U.S. went to war with Iraq, without fully embracing the shades of gray prevalent in international politics. Like most Hollywood films, it wants the answers to be easier than they really are.
The film’s trailers make the reteaming of director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy) with Matt Damon look like another espionage action movie. The action scenes are there, but the thrills are more of the political nature.
Damon plays Roy Miller, the leader of a U.S. military squad charged with finding locations housing Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. Frustrated by fighting their way through hostile citizens and deadly insurgents only to come up empty on WMDs, Miller wants answers. The bureaucratic pushback he receives from a Pentagon officer (Greg Kinnear), along with information from a CIA officer (Brendan Gleeson) suggests a political cover up.
Damon’s character begins to voice concern with the shaky intelligence that spurred the Iraq invasion. With the help of a pro-American Iraqi called “Freddie” (Khalid Abdallah), Miller begins to see General Al-Rawi, one of Saddam’s former top lieutenants, as the key to the story’s mystery.
The Green Zone is the name for the heart of Iraq’s provisional government in the city of Baghdad. There U.S. military, intelligence and Bush administration officials are portrayed as trying control the direction of Iraq’s future government, with little or no local influence. The film’s story is “inspired by” a nonfiction book about the real life area.
But like typical film adaptations, the complexities are simplified, characters are flattened and it’s nearly enough that the hero knows he is right, even if no one else believes him.
Damon is always steady; he’s perfected the morally strong everyman type that Harrison Ford used to be known for. His character struggles with the human cost of war in a shadow world of international politics, willing to risk his career for the truth.
Yet except for less believable action scenes near the end of the film, there seems to be little direct consequences for Miller and his men. Roadside and suicide bombers don’t figure into this story, and his men don’t seem to be threatened by insurgents beyond the opening scene. It is only when he goes out on his own when Damon’s character seems really at risk, and that’s mostly because his government has deemed him collateral damage.
Any appearance by Brendan Gleeson is also always welcome; he’s another great British character actor that radiates realism and authority. It’s interesting to see a film where a CIA agent is portrayed as a champion of truth and justice instead of part of a rogue agency that topples foreign governments.
Khalid Abdallah has the most three dimensional character, playing an Iraqi that wants what is best for his people, yet distressed by the Americans’ inability to understand what that is. Abdallah’s nuanced character becomes two dimensional at the climax, in order to fit the parameters of the too tidy ending.
The likable Greg Kinnear is a one-note villain, seemingly focused on his political maneuvers, damn the consequences. Kinnear comes across like an evil department of motor vehicles clerk; no humanity behind his eyes and completely closed off to common sense and reason. His character is a good example of modern political thought; people of different ideology are simply evil and must be stopped at all costs. This indictment is true of the current left and right sides of the political aisle.
Green Zone will likely receive criticism for being anti-American. This may not be entirely fair; the issues the film brings up are legitimate. But it’s clumsy attempts at answering tough questions is hard to defend. Although Damon’s character is simply trying to do what is right, the villains are clearly administration officials and a group of U.S. Special Forces there to do the government’s dirty work, Saddam’s former general is portrayed sympathetically.
For those wishing to watch a more realistic version of U.S./Middle East politics, Damon’s film from 2005, Syriana is recommended. Green Zone commits a major sin common in filmmaking; it paints the real world in simple black and white.