It’s not surprising that a war film is depressing, but Green Zone isn’t depressing because of the loss of life on screen; our hero doesn’t have to comfort a dying friend or reflect on what it means to kill a man like usual. Instead what is depressing is the politics behind the war itself. The situations depicted here are exasperating and all too close to the truth for comfort.
Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon) has the pointless task of searching Baghdad for weapons of mass destruction in the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq invasion. When a CIA agent points out just how pointless it is, he starts to investigate the evidence for the war itself.
This is a taut, tense thriller, full of fast-paced intrigue. Paul Greengrass has combined his talents for message films with the Bourne side here, and it is an assured take on a difficult subject. Damon is impressive in the lead role, and it is lovely to see the Wire’s Amy Ryan on the big screen as a journalist. Greg Kinnear portrays the spineless suit charged with covering up the government’s tracks very well indeed.
As I’ve said, this is an enjoyable, pacey film about intelligence briefings – you should by now have smelled a rat. This is not All the President’s Men, but a fictionalised and much simplified version of what actually happened. Unsurprisingly, this retelling is also not particularly kind to the Americans. As an enjoyable night out at the cinema, Green Zone works really well. The danger is that people will think these events actually happened in this way. If only it were that simple.
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