redacted kingdom

i have watched two movies about amerians in the middle east in the past few weeks. the first movie i thought was balanced on all fronts and was something people on all sides should see. it did show americans and arabs killing each other, but there was not only a reasonable message, but was obviously designed to show all sides fairly. the second movie also had a message, but it was clearly created from a biased political viewpoint and in the end is a film i fear muslims will watch.

the first of the films is “the kindgdom” by director peter berg. the basic story revolves around a terrorist attack on an expat compound in saudi arabia. the attack kills a large number of americans and saudis, and both countries begin investigations. jamie fox leads a small FBI team, which goes to collect evidence and track the killers down. the team is blocked before and when in the country, but as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that even the locals are having a hard time doing a real investigation.

this film does have the requisite car chases, gun fights and smart dialogue. but the reason i enjoyed the film so much was the scenes which were not required for the genre and which provide much of its impact. there are scenes which show us the simple home lives of muslims, both of the terrorists and the family of the saudi police colonel we come to deeply respect as the film unfolds. you see the love and respect of the muslim family, and you clearly understand that these are people who have lives built on family and faith. the scene of the father praying with his son, and then helping do his homework is simply touching.

in the end, i left the film with a better picture of life in arabia. i live in a muslim country, and have muslim friends for whom i deeply care. as i watched the film, i hoped that americans at home watched it also and came to understand that islam and terrorism has no more of a required connection than does christianity and terrorism (there is a much longer history of catholics persecuting other faiths, or non-catholic christians than of muslim terrorism). i also hoped that muslims would see the film and understand that americans are not inherently evil, although we are different.

the tagline of this film is “trust no one”. i find this ironic, because trust is what the core relationships in the film is based on. it is also what i was left with as the film ended. an ending with one of the best closing lines i have ever seen.

the second film is “redacted”, a brian de palma film which to be honest i disliked on many levels, thinking many times why am i watching this. the story re-tells, in pseudo-documentary format, an event ending in the true killing of an iraqi family. the deaths were part of a rape of a 14 year-old girl by drunk american soldiers.

there is a clearly a biased view in this film. it is not well made, with bad acting, dialogue and filming, but it is also slanted and tries to make the war look unfair in all dimensions. it also portrays american troops as poorly trained and lacking of discipline; neither of which are true. there is even a scene where a soldier's head is cut off by terrorists, in the context of the movie the brutal slaying is very close to being acceptable and justified.

the tagline for this film is “truth is the first casualty of war”, i also find this to be ironic. the film is based on fact, but facts were changed to suit the message. at no point is it made clear that 5 soldiers who were involved in the real incident, including one that did not participate and later came forward to tell the military what had happened, were charged with murder and rape. it also never said that none of the real soldiers were ever taken by terrorists, and that the images at the end of the film and labeled as “actual photos” include images from the movie, photos of actors not dead iraqis.

this film upset and scared me as much as the kingdom gave me hope. if we simply make propadaga films, and have them to look like footage of an unfolding event, what will some angry youth do with these images. the brutality was real, and needed to be punished, but where is the movie that explains why the iraqis are fighting? or, how this could cause even the best trained and led army in the world to have any soldiers who commit atrocity? where is the truth that shows that when criminal acts do occur by soldiers, they are arrested and tried for the crimes?

truth can be a casualty, and you need to know who to trust. but, of these two films i hope only one is ever seen by muslims i run into on the street. more importantly i hope redacted is never seen by the families of my friends.

the kingdoms implied message of “if we allow anger to build on anger, more death, suffering and brutaility will follow” is preferable to “americans should be punished” message of redacted.