The New York Post rips into "Green Zone" as anti-American. ..."Green Zone," opening Friday, is a $100 million slime job that conjures up a fantastically distorted leftist version of the war and wraps it around a frantic but preposterous action picture... And Such is this movie's eagerness to turn reality upside down that, although the Ryan character is obviously based on Judith Miller of The New York Times, the reporter is said to work for the Wall Street Journal. In full-on liberal daydream mode, Damon and his friends can pretend their favorite lefty paper is untainted by flawed reporting. To cover his tracks from Chief Miller, the Pentagon official sends out a goon squad to assassinate the Sunni general -- who, according to the movie, is also the sole figure responsible for whether Iraq will erupt into an insurgency. Even for Hollywood, "Green Zone" is dumbfoundingly brazen in its effort to rewrite the facts... More at the NYPost. Supposedly, "Green Zone" is based loosely on Imperial Life in the Emerald City by WashPo editor Rajiv Chandrasekhar. I met Rajiv and spoke with him at a journalism conference that was also attended by Mike Yon and General Petreaus (then LTG Petraeus). Most journalists agreed with Rajiv on the CPA's ineptness; however, GEN Petreaus mentioned that Rajiv was painting an absolutist picture and that there were more than a few good men leaving the wire and trying to help (GEN Petreaus was leading the 101st Airborne Division at the time and depended on some of the CPA folks in his sector). Some of the authors here at B5 were there at the time and know Rajiv and have some issues with the book. (Don't even get them started about the movie...) The issue I have with the book is that the movie in not based on it. It seems the studio optioned the book and then got Matt Damon and said "Holy crap, we have Matt Damon! Let's make an action flick where US Soldiers are the bad guys." Alas, I won't have much of a review of the movie since I won't be seeing it unless I'm paid to. I'll take a pass. You could ask some of the key members of IAVA about it since they star in it. Update: Much better analysis at... The BlackFive Farm Team (Lilyea's quote might be one of his best yet) and The Mudville Gazette
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Posted
Mar 10 2010, 01:06 AM
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BLACKFIVE