Gunner Palace DVD Review:

“Gunner Palace”: A Real Fixer Upper

War is a rich source of material for documentary filmmakers, and the Iraqi conflict has proven no exception. However, famed docs like “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Control Room,” in their zeal to point fingers, largely forgot to show us the war itself. As thrilling as it is to watch Michael Moore drive an ice cream truck around Washington, D.C., it would have been far more impressive to see him in a Bradley in downtown Baghdad. Or the ice cream truck, but that might be a very short movie. “Gunner Palace” steps up to fill this void, exploring the war torn streets of Baghdad up close and personal with U.S. troops.

Even though there has been an endless marathon of news coverage ever since the March 2003 invasion, raw footage of the day-to-day existence of troops in Iraq has been hard to come by. It nearly always comes slickly edited, with some reporter blaring his take over the proceedings. Even then cameras rarely venture out right into the thick of things, understandably clinging to more secure locations. “Gunner Palace” however takes us everywhere the troops go, and leaves nearly all commentary to them. We don’t get to see any real carnage, so perhaps there were certain safety restrictions that confined the filmmaker, but we do get to tag along for numerous dangerous situations that could easily have turned ugly. It’s most fascinating to see unfiltered, and more than any carefully crafted news reports gave me a good feeling for the current state of things in Iraq. Admittedly, as military work tends to be, some of the footage is rather repetitive. By the fifth time we see GIs stumble around someone’s home at night looking for contraband, we feel we’ve gotten the point.

The film begins in September 2003 with a quote from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld describing the great progress being made in “postwar” Iraq, and then quickly cuts to a violent skirmish with insurgents on the streets of Baghdad. Our hosts, the generally young troops of the U.S. 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, are housed in the bomb damaged remains of one of Saddam Hussein’s son Uday’s sumptuous palaces. They have renamed it “Gunner Palace,” and occasionally have time to enjoy the pool, fishing pond, and putting range on its spacious grounds.

The battalion is usually busy patrolling the streets, ever watchful for the deadly improvised explosive devices that lurk all around and often dodging rocks thrown by onlookers. They distribute anti-Saddam literature, clean up pro-Saddam graffiti, and monitor imams’ Friday prayers for possible subversive messages. They play referee at heated meetings of the local Iraqi advisory council, and baby-sit kids at an orphanage, where one soldier remarks he still hasn’t had the chance to hold his own baby. A few officers train the not particularly young or motivated Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.

Nights are spent hunting insurgents. One time they arrest a man with several rocket launchers in his apartment, and another they yank a few individuals out of a crowded restaurant. At the home of alleged bomb makers one suspect notes the camera and insists he is a journalist, but despite the lack of evidence he and his comrades are hauled off to Abu Ghraib prison.

Several soldiers worry that the war is little more than distant entertainment to most Americans, and wonder if anyone would even notice if they were killed. One says he doesn’t feel like he’s defending his country anymore, but will still be proud to go home a war veteran. Asked if he enjoys his job, an intelligence analyst amusedly relates a time when he terrified suspects by joking about sending them to Cuba. A female soldier says Iraqi men are often so surprised to see her that they nearly cause car accidents. We hear from some Iraqi translators as well, who say the Americans are just normal people who do good and bad, and are very friendly. These Iraqis are often labeled traitors by their countrymen, but believe they are helping to bring about peace.

Unlike “Fahrenheit 9/11,” “Gunner Palace” doesn’t have a focused political agenda. Some images show American troops in a positive light, while others do not. The film often strikes a contrast between the rosy pronouncements of armed forces radio and the harsh reality on the street. The primary goal seems to be to educate Americans on what the experience is for troops in Iraq, free of spin from politicians or commentators. Which is not to say no messages come through, but they are varied and voiced by the soldiers themselves. There are no gung ho warriors, nor any antiwar cynics. The unifying themes are confusion over the direction their ambiguous and hazardous mission is taking, and hope that they have the support and understanding of folks back home.

Although the film’s primary entertainment value lies in raw footage of policing the mean streets of Baghdad, there are also a number of lighthearted moments. “Star Wars” diehards will enjoy homage to a certain clumsy stormtrooper when a soldier rushing into action nearly loses his helmet on a clothesline. As evidence that “Super Size Me” was not screened in Baghdad, several soldiers give thanks for the airport Burger King, where they gorge themselves silly when possible. A soldier returning from monitoring a pro-Saddam rally proudly displays a Saddam T-shirt and Iraqi flag bandana as if he’d just seen Springsteen in concert. And a few black soldiers try amongst giggles to teach an Iraqi interpreter how to “holla” at women American style.

Over several scenes rap songs written and performed by GIs play, some of which are surprisingly good. When these guys get home they should get an agent. The lyrics are occasionally insightful, but usually evince the typical rap bravado with many lyrics about showing their enemies who’s boss and shooting people. This is the only part of the film where real hostility toward Iraqis is expressed, and hopefully the songs are more a means for the troops to blow off steam than a true indication of their thoughts.

The special features are quite limited. I would have liked to see the camera turned on the filmmaker himself, to experience what it was like for him to be thrown into this unforgiving environment for several months. What we do get are 17 very brief additional scenes, mostly just excess footage understandably cut from scenes in the film. Also provided are three “Gunner Freestyles” audio tracks, cobbled together from the soldiers’ raps and guitar riffs on the one hand, and miscellaneous news reports and background noise on the other. It would have been better if they could have separated out the soldiers’ songs and maybe cut videos with film footage, but I suppose Uday may not have had a recording studio.

Even if you don’t know any troops in Iraq or don’t think they should even be there, “Gunner Palace” is a most illuminating experience for anyone trying to enhance their understanding of the situation. For all the big picture political arguments going on, it really all comes down to these young men; worried they may be lost in the shuffle. Indeed, the film reports that several featured soldiers the filmmaker befriended during his stay were killed in action shortly thereafter, and I’ve already forgotten their names. It’s well worth walking a mile in these soldiers’ shoes before their footprints are lost in the sands of history.



Chris Wood