A group of Egyptian revolutionaries battle leaders and regimes, risking their lives to build a new society of conscience. . . . .
Modern Conflicts
Hell and Back Again – 2011
What does it mean to lead men in war? What does it mean to come home? Hell and Back Again is a cinematically revolutionary film that asks and answers these questions with a power and intimacy no previous film about the conflict in Afghanistan has been able to achieve. It is a masterpiece in the cinema of war. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Modern Conflicts
Lessons of Darkness – 1992
This film shows the disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames. In contrast to the common documentary film there are no comments and few interviews. What must have been the hell itself is presented to the viewer in such beautiful sights and beautiful music that one has to be fascinated by it. The German title translates ‘lessons in darkness’. Read more at IMDB or support this site and the filmmaker by buying it at Amazon.
Modern Conflicts
The Tillman Story – 2010
Pat Tillman never thought of himself as a hero. His choice to leave a multimillion-dollar football contract and join the military wasn’t done for any reason other than he felt it was the right thing to do. The fact that the military manipulated his tragic death in the line of duty into a propaganda tool is unfathomable and thoroughly explored in Amir Bar-Lev’s riveting and enraging documentary. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Modern Conflicts
Restrepo – 2010
A year with one platoon in the deadliest valley in Afghanistan. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Modern Conflicts
Full Battle Rattle – 2008
A film about life inside the US Army’s Iraq simulation in California’s Mojave Desert. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Modern Conflicts
Standard Operating Procedure – 2008
Errol Morris expands on the infamous photographs of U.S. soldiers torturing suspected terrorists imprisoned at Abu Ghraib to expose the U.S. military’s ‘standard operating procedure’ as cruel and inhumane. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Modern Conflicts
Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? – 2008
In Morgan Spurlock’s cheeky documentary, the fast food filmmaker trudges through the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan, asking strangers, “Have you seen Osama bin Laden?” Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Modern Conflicts
Taxi to the Dark Side – 2007
Using the torture and death in 2002 of an innocent Afghan taxi driver as the touchstone, this film examines changes after 9/11 in U.S. policy toward suspects in the war on terror. Soldiers, their attorneys, one released detainee, U.S. Attorney John Yoo, news footage and photos tell a story of abuse at Bagram Air Base, Abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo Bay. From Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Gonzalez came unwritten orders to use any means necessary. The CIA and soldiers with little training used sleep deprivation, sexual assault, stress positions, waterboarding, dogs and other terror tactics to seek information from detainees. Many speakers lament the loss of American ideals in pursuit of security.
Modern Conflicts
No End In Sight – 2007
Chronological look at the fiasco in Iraq, especially decisions made in the spring of 2003 – and the backgrounds of those making decisions – immediately following the overthrow of Saddam no occupation plan, an inadequate team to run the country, insufficient troops to keep order, and three edicts from the White House announced by Bremmer when he took over no provisional Iraqi government, de-Ba’athification, and disbanding the Iraqi armed services. The film has chapters (from History to Consequences), and the talking heads are reporters, academics, soldiers, military brass, and former Bush-administration officials, including several who were in Baghdad in 2003. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Modern Conflicts
Ghosts of Abu Graib – 2007
An examination of the prisoner abuse scandal involving U.S. soldiers and detainees at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison in the fall of 2003. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Modern Conflicts
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience – 2007
A unique documentary about troops’ experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, based on writings by soldiers. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Modern Conflicts
Body of War – 2007
Body of War tells the heart wrenching story of how 22-year-old Tomas Young enlisted to serve his country and became a victim of the Iraq War. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Modern Conflicts
Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers – 2006
Documentary portraying the actions of U.S. corporate contractors in the U.S.-Iraq war. Interviews with employees and former employees of such companies as Halliburton, CACI, and KBR suggest that government cronyism is behind apparent “sweetheart” deals that give such contractors enormous freedom to profit from supplying support and material to American troops while providing little oversight. Survivors of employees who were killed discuss the claim that the companies cared more for profit than for the welfare of their own workers, and soldiers indicate that the quality of services provided is sub-standard and severely in contradiction to the comparatively huge profits being generated. Also depicted are the unsuccessful attempts by the filmmakers to get company spokesmen to respond to the charges made by the interviewees. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Modern Conflicts
Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War – 2004
Interviews with varied U.S officials and experts offer a deconstruction on the Bush administration’s case for war in Iraq in the wake of 9/11. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Modern Conflicts
Control Room – 2004
A chronicle which provides a rare window into the international perception of the Iraq War, courtesy of Al Jazeera, the Arab world’s most popular news outlet. Roundly criticized by Cabinet members and Pentagon officials for reporting with a pro-Iraqi bias, and strongly condemned for frequently airing civilian causalities as well as footage of American POWs, the station has revealed (and continues to show the world) everything about the Iraq War that the Bush administration did not want it to see. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Modern Conflicts
Fahrenheit 9/11 – 2004
Michael Moore’s view on what happened to the United States after September 11; and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.