| November 7, 2009 | ||
| 8:15 pm | to | 10:40 pm |
Australia
2008/digibeta/100mins
SATURDAY 7 NOVEMBER 8.15 PM – Dendy
Join us after the screening for a panel discussion on the difficulties of documenting conflict. The expert panel includes filmmaker Rob Nugent and moderator Virginia Haussegger.
Commissioned by the Australian War Memorial to document life in Iraq for Australian soldiers, this is a beautiful, intimate and sometimes chilling account of how to live with danger.
Canberra filmmaker Rob Nugent spent a month in Iraq documenting a claustrophobic world dominated by strict security. Soldiers are sent out in tanks to patrol the night streets, or practice target shooting in the desert, exchanging a few words with Bedouins collecting empty shells for scrap metal. Back in Baghdad they watch for insurgents, or rest in the swimming pool of the former dictator’s palace.
The film is accompanied by the 15-minute short To Flanders Fields 1917 – Through the Eyes of Frank Hurley, showing footage from the Front and accompanied by extracts from Hurley’s diary lamenting his struggle to capture the essence of war on film.
Director’s Statement “I was interested in going into this other culture, which is the army, and looking at it from the point of view of how cinema might explore their world and – without judging it – try to put aside all the politics that surround deployment of soldiers. I was interested in how soldiers find meaning in their own world – in an isolated and dangerous place” Rob Nugent
Director/Cinematographer Rob Nugent Producer Madeleine Chaleyer Print Source Australian War Memorial Australia
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
A fascinating look at daily life for Aussie soldiers in Iraq.
Sensitively shot where the sense of anticipation is palpable. What does it feel like knowing that you might forced to kill someone in an instant?
The sense of danger as Rob accompanies a team on a night patrol is nerve racking. I’m surprised any soldiers return with their sanity intact.
Overall, I was reminded of the futility of war.
A great and unbiased look into the lives of the Australian soldiers in Iraq.