Friday, August 13, 2010

Non-Fiction Book Comes To Life In Green Zone

By Jeanie Guy

A Matt Damon movie, the Green Zone is somewhat similar to his Bourne series of films. This movie is action packed just like the Bourne movies but instead of a spy thriller, it is a war drama. It's set in 2003 and Damon and his team are searching for WMDs weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. This films name refers to the area set up around the government grounds of the one time leader of the people of Iraq, Saddam Hussein's palace also known as the Emerald City.

Onetime Washington Post Baghdad Bureau chief correspondent Rajiv Chandrasekaran wrote a book by the same name and the movie is based on this book. The book's author was there when the US troupes attempted to set up the temporary government on the Hussein former palace grounds. There have been many critics along the way that have noted this new government was built in somewhat of a glass castle which was so far removed from reality of the Iraq War that it could only fail in meeting the needs of the people being served in that country, something the US did not want.

This movie is a fictional account told in that time period with all its thrilling drama and set when and where the actual US-led occupation of Bagdad happened. The director, Paul Greengrass of United 93, and screenwriter Brian Helgeland used most of Chandrasekaran's accounts from his book as the starting point for their own movie story. This is a story of an officer, Damon, who joins up with a good-guy CIA agent, Brendon Gleeson of In Bruges and Beowulf, to find evidence of the weapons of mass destruction. The CIA agent is a senior member of the bureau but can only offer so much help.

Rounding out the all-star cast is Greg Kennear of the Last Song and Amy Ryan of Gone Baby Gone and the Office. Ryan portrays a foreign correspondent from the New York Times who has traveled to Iraq to dispute accusations about the weapons of mass destructions against the US. Kennear's characters is another CIA agent who desperately wants to get Damon's character out of his hair and keep spinning this situation in good light, no matter the truth.

The reporter, Ryan, will not disclose her sources, but only to say she spoke to someone named 'Magellan'. Once Damon's character finds Magellan's information, he tries to figure out who this person might be. He even confronts Ryan's character in one scene but as a typical reporter, she will not reveal her sources.

Damon's character is sent on a 'wild goose chase' as he searches for answers and comes up blank due to faulty Intel and covert operations he's not privy to. There are many fight scenes in which Damon's character is caught in the middle of gunfire from unknown sources and people from his own unit telling him to leave things alone. His character is a very determined solider and wants to do what's right for the American people and the people of Iraq.

It becomes clear that Damon's character's quest for the truth is the most valuable weapon of all when he's kidnapped and then escapes in a battle-royal against several men. What he finds out after this is that Kinnear's character has been working against him and not with him. With this part cleared up, there are still several unanswered questions.

Many questions will be answered by the end of the film, such as will Damon's character help a rouge regimen clear up their act or will the escalading violence continue to climb in such an unstable condition as to become a prelude to second movie? The Green Zone should be seen by everyone and anyone who enjoys suspense, war and intrigue in their movies. Director Greengrass is also the director of several of Damon's Bourne movies; therefore audiences will not be disappointed. - 40726

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment