Movie-makers may have been slow to put the Vietnam war on film, but are suddenly rushing into the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan. Michael Dwyerpreviews the offensive to come
HOLLYWOOD'S reticence to tackle an unpopular war was demonstrated during the Vietnam conflict when the only studio film on the subject was John Wayne's gung-ho The Green Berets (1968). Film-makers were more inclined to favour allegorical treatments in such films as MASH and Deliverance, and the westerns Little Big Man, Ulzana's Raid and Soldier Blue. The latter concluded on startlingly graphic carnage modelled on the 1968 Mai Lai massacre.
It took several years after the fall of Saigon in 1975 for directors to confront Vietnam directly, beginning in 1978 with The Deer Hunter, Coming Home, Go Tell the Spartans and Who'll Stop the Rain, followed a year later by Apocalypse Now and in the 1980s by Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Casualties of War and Born on the Fourth of July. Movies on the 1990-91 Gulf War have been few and did not surface until years later in productions such as Courage Under Fire (1996), Three Kings (1999) and Jarhead (2005). Four years into the current Iraq war, the subject has most often been explored in documentaries, such as the award-winning Fahrenheit 9/11 and Iraq in Fragments, or on television.
In the underestimated US series Brothers and Sisters (now showing on Channel 4), a right-wing TV political commentator (played by Calista Flockhart) questions her support for the war when her youngest brother is summoned to return to service in Iraq. Saving Jessica Lynch, a flag-waving TV movie, carried the disclaimer that "some characters, scenes and events in whole or in part have been created for dramatic purposes".
Steven Bochco, who was responsible for such gritty series as Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue and Murder One, produced Over There (2005), dealing with the experiences of US soldiers in Iraq, but the ratings were poor and the series was cancelled after 13 episodes.
"It didn't surprise me," Bochco admitted. "I don't think people want to watch a dramatisation that does not look to thrill or uplift them. When people are going through it as a country, I just don't think there is emotional room for them to go there every week."
Irwin Winkler's Home of the Brave, the first Hollywood fiction film on the war, starring Samuel L Jackson, 50 Cent, Brian Presley and Jessica Biel as demoralised war veterans coming home, flopped on US release last December. "It could reflect a lack of appetite for this kind of material," Winkler observed, although generally negative reviews didn't help.
Hollywood is now gambling on an autumn/winter release schedule dotted with films featuring high-profile actors and tackling the war from different angles. The timing is dictated by the advent of the awards season, with many of the movies carrying lofty Oscar ambitions. For example, Peter Berg's Saudi Arabia-set terrorist thriller, The Kingdom, was set to open in the US last April, but Universal postponed it until the end of September.
"It is inevitable," Berg says, "when something like this Middle East mess continues, that film-makers, authors, and songwriters will want to respond. Since the Iraq war body count had hit 2,000 and there was no end in sight, this film is a response to that."
Universal's US marketing staff are comparing The Kingdom to Black Hawk Down, Ridley Scott's full-on battle picture set during the 1993 siege of Mogadishu. However, action movie maestro Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break) is aiming for an even more intensive experience in The Hurt Locker, which is now shooting and deals with a bomb disposal unit in Iraq.
"We parachute you directly into the action," she promises. "Just raw, uncensored combat."
Sound the charge
Irish release dates are listed where known, and are subject to change.
A Mighty HeartMichael Winterbottom's drama follows the search for abducted Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl (Dan Futterman). Angelina Jolie plays his journalist wife. Sep 21
The KingdomFBI agents Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman team up with a Saudi colonel to track down a bomber in Riyadh. Oct 5
RenditionGavin Hood's film follows the quest of an American woman (Reese Witherspoon) to find her husband, an Egyptian-born chemical engineer (Omar Metwally) held at a secret detention centre. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a CIA analyst who questions the man's unorthodox interrogation. Oct 12
Lions for LambsRobert Redford, who also directs, plays a university professor who learns that two of his students are marooned in Afghanistan. Tom Cruise co-stars as a Republican senator. Nov 9
The Kite RunnerMarc Foster's film, shot in the Dari dialect with a cast of unknowns, follows an Afghan immigrant who returns from the US to Kabul in search of his childhood friend. Dec 26
Charlie Wilson's WarIn a factually based drama set in 1980, Tom Hanks stars as a Texas congressman who hooked up with a rogue CIA operative (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to support the Mujahideen against the Soviet Union. Julia Roberts co-stars. Jan 11
In the Valley of ElahA detective (Charlize Theron) helps a US officer (Tommy Lee Jones) and his wife (Susan Sarandon) to trace their son who disappeared on his return home from service in Iraq. Paul Haggis, who made the Oscar-winning Crash, directs. Jan 18
Grace Is GoneJohn Cusack cannot bring himself to tell his two daughters that their mother has died while serving in Iraq.
RedactedBrian De Palma's low-budget DV-shot picture is described as a montage of stories charting the experiences of soldiers and journalists in Iraq.
Stop LossRyan Phillippe plays a soldier who refuses to return to Iraq for a second tour of duty. Kimberly Pierce, who made Boys Don't Cry, directs.
The ReturnTim Robbins, Rachel McAdams and Michael Pena are cast as soldiers back home from Iraq in a road movie directed by Neil Burger.
