Gunner Palace follows a company of soldiers as they spend one year in Iraq headquartered in a bombed-out palace that used to belong to Uday Hussein. The film begins after initial fighting in Iraq has ended, and the real fighting only just begun. As a result, the whole thing ends up becoming very much like COPS in Baghdad. Which is a fascinating thing to watch.
Like COPS, the film doesn’t provide very much in the way of narrative structure, but what it lacks in forward momentum it makes up for in being a unique voice in the world of war coverage. This is the ground war. This is the troops’ perspective. This is not CNN. This is not Fox News (though Armed Forces Radio excerpts tie scenes together). And when you take all of the disparate opinions about the war in the US into account, what you end up seeing here is…not all that surprising.
Some Iraqis love us. Some hate us. IED’s are the devil. The troops are proud to serve, but don’t feel like they’re defending America anymore. They make fun of the “armor” protecting their vehicles – scrap metal they scrounged which will slow down the shrapnel enough to stick in you instead of just go right through, as one of the soldiers points out. You won’t find an out-and-out indictment of the war here, but you won’t find blind patriotism, either.
The really fascinating aspect of this film, however, is the music. Many of the soldiers in the film express themselves musically, and of those, most use hip-hop. The soundtrack is almost exclusively soldier-produced. And their raps are devastating. When these guys get back to the states, someone better give them a contract. If, as Chuck D once said, rap is the “black CNN,” then these guys are that network’s war correspondents, delivering their take on the war at 135 beats-per-minute.
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Article comments
1 - SFC SKI
I saw this film in its advance screening and agin in theatircal release, a few changes were made between the two, minor points forthe most part, I am sure the DVD release will be much more comprehensive, at least I hope so.
I strongly urge anyone with an interest in events in during the first year of this war to see this movie.
One of the soldiers in the film says viewers will see this movie, eat their popcorn, and forgot the soldiers before the popcorn is done, I hope that isn't true for anyone who sees this fim.
I hope the soundtrack will be made available at some point, the lyrics are very appropriate for the suubject matter.
2 - BT
I saw this movie when we recieved it at Blockbuster and had to go out and buy it. As an enlisted airman in a combat communications squadron, I can relate to these soldiers feelings and perspectives. I spent time over in the sandbox, and was finally glad to see a movie with true footage, not this stuff you see on the news. This is definately a must see.