Gunner': War isn't pretty
Mike Clark, USA TODAY
With its title concisely suggesting what we're about to see, Gunner Palace is an Iraq war documentary that seems to lack an agenda. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have a brutally direct question on its mind.
Taken from the soldiers' perspective — specifically the U.S. Army's 2/3 Field Artillery in and around Baghdad — this impressionistic portrait takes place not long after President Bush announced the cessation of "major combat" in Iraq. You can almost hear grunts asking, "Then what are all these explosions, casualties and bullets whizzing by our ears?"
The story only occasionally deals with R&R,yet its single most unforgettable scene deals with the domicile alluded to in the film's title: splashy digs that belonged to the late Uday Hussein. Its new tenants are 400 soldiers who in their off hours take advantage of a backyard putting green and a party-friendly swimming pool with scores of revelers and blaring music.
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The verbally ripe Palace went through a tough fight with the MPAA ratings board to secure its PG-13. Any reactionary agitators out there contemplating a dust-up out of this should get real. You know the age-old controversy over whether those who are old enough to die for their country are old enough to have a beer? In this case, they're certainly old enough to curse — and those who may be taking their place in a couple of years are old enough to hear them.
Mike Clark, USA TODAY
