March 2008Issue 409



Battle for Haditha

Product information
written and directed by Nick Broomfield
Star rating
****

Battle for Haditha

Insurgents plant a roadside bomb and wait in a nearby house. Local people debate what to do – some stay, others leave. The bomb explodes, killing US marines. Their comrades massacre men, women and children in nearby houses on the outskirts of the Iraqi town of Haditha.

Broomfield’s patient documentary style was gut-wrenching in Ghosts. Here, his sense of justice, his desire to pin down the strategists and officers higher up the command chain, sometimes leads him into shortcuts and speechifying. Otherwise it’s horribly real. This is what it’s like both to go berserk and to be scared shitless, while, on high, the manipulators remain untouched and spotless.




also by...
THIS AUTHOR

The Edge of Heaven

Our Daily Bread
directed by Nicolaus Geyrhalter

No Country for Old Men
Directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen

The Best of 2007
The best music, books and films from 2007

Language Tools
Powered by Ultralingua

Join over 10,000 people just like you. Get e-mail updates about new content, issue alerts, contests, and more!

other articles
FROM THIS ISSUE

We have our FB-eye on you...

To fly or not to fly?
Aviation’s impact on climate change is disturbing. But what should we do about it? Chris Brazier interviews three campaigners – Adam Ma’anit, Mark Lynas and George Monbiot – and tries to decide.

Problems in paradise
Tourism is booming – and every country seems to want more. But, Chris Brazier wonders, do they see the pitfalls?

Brunei
There is a little hole on the wall of every office, restaurant, reception area, hotel lobby, shop – even in the humblest of the living rooms – which serves as a formidable metaphor for the vicissitudes of power, prestige and privilege in Brunei.

Egypt steps in
Arab state becomes peacemaker as conflict worsens

recently
IN THIS COLUMN

Our Daily Bread
Industrialized food production

No Country for Old Men
The new Coen Brothers film

Black Gold
by Marc and Nick Francis

Manufacturing Dissent
by Rick Caine and Debbie Melnyk

Jesus Camp
directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

The Witnesses
The Witnesses directed and co-written by André Techiné






Voices from the margins:

Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.