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The War Tapes

Fascinating portrait of the war in Iraq. But is it real?

By PETER KEOUGH | June 28, 2006

3.0 Stars

THE WAR TAPES: Damning yet dubious

In The War Tapes, Deborah Scranton distributed digital cameras to three soldiers in a New Hampshire National Guard Unit and edited their video diaries into the most harrowing, revelatory, and dubious documentary I have yet seen about the war in Iraq. Why dubious? It’s the editing part I suspect, since the three accounts piece together to form a devastating indictment of the war and those responsible, a point of view that might not reflect that of the soldiers themselves. (Two of them will be at the Kendall Square opening night, so you can ask.) Zack Bazzi, the sardonic Lebanese-American Nation subscriber, seems the most reserved about the mission, though the gung-ho Mike Moriarty has bitter things to say about Halliburton. Whether the war is a good one or not, this trio, like the unlikely heroes of The Ritchie Boys, will never be the same, a point made graphic when Steve Pink expresses his exultation and disgust at images of the slain enemy.

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