Gunner Palace

Last night we watched the docu-movie "Gunner Palace" which chronicles the everyday existence of soldiers of the 2/3 Field Artillery unit stationed in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces. The movie was shot in the currently popular Reality TV style, with the cameras alternately following the soldiers in action as they go on daily patrols, then switching to confessional style first person ramblings.

The editing style disjointedly jumps from scene to scene, overloading the visual and emotional senses, but the technique does a good job describing what must be the surreal existence these soldiers live in. Each day is filled with the entire range of raw human emotion: the morning may be spent dealing with a potential bomb disguised as a garbage bag left on the side of the road, with a dip in the palace pool after lunch in a vacation-like setting, concluding with a tense nocturnal raid on a suspected bomb making cell.

No matter what your politics, this is a movie which will wrench you (at least figuratively) from your comfort zone/plush sofa and transport you as close to the front lines as you'd likely want to get. For most of the general populace, including myself, the protracted nature of the war has made it almost impossible to stay emotionally involved. We just can't care as much as we did at the start of the conflict almost 3 years ago because by now we'd be drained, and we wouldn't be able to go about our daily lives. In a disturbing but non-horrific way, "Gunner Palace" tickles those numbed nerve endings and reminds us that we still feel for the thousands of men and women spending their days far from the comforts of a Starbucks or an after work cocktail. In one memorable scene, Stuart Wilf, a 19-year old specialist from Colorado, and one of the most engaging characters in the film, tends to a fire inside a drum barrel. The scene reminds me of a bonfire on the beach after a day of surfing and swimming, with Wilf dressed for the part of your average American teenager in a t-shirt and hooded sweatshirt. The tagline on the screen reads: "300 days without beer." I read that and the thought popped immediately into my head that I couldn't do it. It was at that moment that I realized how soft and cushy my life is -- that this was what brought it all home for me -- what connected me to the sacrifice being made by so many.

In a sense, it made me realize I couldn't relate to what these young, inexperienced, brave men and women called an existence. And I certainly couldn't even begin to fathom what the average Iraqi views as a normal life. What "Gunner Palace" did was to remind me that there is still a pivotal and climactic event ongoing in the world that will shape the lives of not only the thousands of American troops on the ground, but millions of people on this planet, and that we should all devote as much attention as we can - or at least as much as we would to "Joe Millionaire." For those who haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend "Gunner Palace" as a first step. For more reviews and opinions about the film, click on the movie poster above.