By Jason Apuzzo. Later today we’ll be posting a review of Sony’s Karate Kid remake. The Karate Kid, as everybody knows, is about a young kid who trains himself in the martial arts in order to protect himself from bullying and to rebuild his self-esteem.
The Karate Kid reminded me of a nice little short that I caught recently called, “The Young Marines.” “The Young Marines” is about the Young Marine program, that serves a similar function for young people – and also puts them on a path to serving their country. Enjoy.
Footnote: unlike with The Karate Kid, the Chinese government did not have editorial oversight of this short.
By Govindini Murty. Israel has had tremendous problems in recent years getting any fair treatment in the Western media or in Western popular culture. As we have already well documented here at Libertas Film Magazine, the Western cinema – in particular Hollywood – is going out of its way to portray Islamic radicalism in a positive light (just look at the pro-Islamist messages in recent films like the remake of Clash of the Titans, Robin Hood, Kingdom of Heaven, and even Avatar). These films all portray Islamic radicals to varying degrees as noble freedom fighters, oppressed minorities, and virtuous warriors against the hegemonic forces of the West. What is so sad is that there is a democracy in the Middle East, Israel, that is truly made up of an oppressed, persecuted minority – the Jewish people – who receive no such favorable treatment from the Western cultural establishment.
This is all the more tragically clear in the media’s biased coverage of the current crisis off the coast of Israel. Since LFM is not a political site but a film and culture site, I wanted to let our readers know about some good documentaries that will shed some light on the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The barrage of lies about Israel by the Western media and cultural establishment is so great that even the most well-reasoned books and columns by pro-Israel commentators have little chance of getting through to the public. That’s why supporters of Israel need to pursue artistic and cultural means to communicate why Israel is worth defending.
Here are seven documentaries you should see in order to understand what is actually going on in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We’re proud to have shown a number of these films at the Liberty Film Festival, and you can buy most of them in our LFM Store above. Note, these films are listed in the order that people should ideally see them, starting with the earlier documentaries and proceeding then to the later ones: Continue reading 7 Films about Israel & The Background to the Current Gaza Crisis
[Editor’s note: the trailer above contains strong language and scenes of battlefield violence. Viewer discretion advised.]
By Jason Apuzzo. The trailer above is for a forthcoming on-line documentary series by independent filmmaker Danfung Dennis called Battle for Hearts and Minds. On July 2nd, 2009, four thousand US Marines of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade launched a major helicopter assault into a Taliban stronghold in the Helmand River Valley in southern Afghanistan in order to break a military stalemate reached with the Taliban. Dennis was embedded with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Company, as they were dropped 18 km behind enemy lines.
The series focuses on the sometimes contradictory roles played by the Marines as both warriors and statesmen in their effort to ‘win the hearts and minds’ of the Afghan people.
Based on the trailer, the series looks like it will be intense and compelling – and we look forward to its debut. You can read an interview with Dennis about his experiences with Echo Company here. In the interview Dennis goes to great lengths to describe how the Marines do everything possible to distinguish between friend and foe in Afghanistan in order to avoid civilian casualties – often a very difficult task when the enemy hides among civilians.
We are, as most people are aware, sorely lacking in good war reporting these days – i.e., reporting that lacks a political agenda, but also that captures the complexity of the situation we’re facing. I’m hoping this series gets some attention. From a photographic standpoint the series certainly looks extraordinary. Dennis shot the footage with a custom built rig using a Canon 5D Mark II, 24-70 f/2.8 L lens, Sennheiser ME-66 and G2 wireless system, Singh-Ray variable ND filter, and Beachtek 2XAs mounted on a Glidecam 2000 HD with custom made aluminum ‘wings.’
You can find out more information about the series here. Feel free to also follow Danfung Dennis on Twitter, or visit the Facebook page for The Battle for Hearts and Minds.
[Editor’s Note: we were so taken last week by Tyler Ginter’s “Why We Fight” short that we decided to post another short video of his today. It’s a video entitled “What is Combat Camera,” and we asked LFM Contributor ‘Max Garuda’ to comment on it. ‘Max’ is a veteran of multiple UN-sponsored enforcement actions, and is an expert in the areas of new media and national security.]
“A well-focused Combat Cameraman can tip the scales in the battle for words, deeds and images. Combat Camera in most cases is the main effort.” -Maj. Matthew Yandura, 173rd ABCT Information Operations Officer
By Max Garuda. For a mini-doc/internal promotional piece, “What is Combat Camera” is great. Excellent production values, nicely edited, and showcasing some great photography. But since Ginter has distributed it via Vimeo to a wider viewership than its original, small, DOD (Department of Defense) – internal audience, it’s worth looking at for broader implications.
The most striking statement and image comes early in the piece. The narrator, Major Yandura, commends the combat cameraman, stating that “combat camera soldiers think differently, but more importantly they see the battlefield differently”. It’s this difference that makes them a force multiplier for unit commanders and grants them the basic toolkit to become effective strategic communicators.
The most striking image in the entire 4 minute video punctuates Yandura’s compliment: a soldier in digital cammies rests on one knee in foreground, his back to the camera, facing a housing compound that fills the entire background of the photo. The contrast of the grey-clad soldier and the monochromatic tan compound is striking, and highlights how out-of-place the soldier seems. At the same time, this image shows a different battlefield than that which CNN or Al-Jazeera is likely to show. No menacing bearded and robe-clad Al-Qaeda fighters training with automatic weapons and RPGs; no running, shooting and chaos. Simplicity, calm and domesticity prevail, reminding us that there are everyday people trying to live their lives amidst the raging conflict around them. Continue reading Shaping the War Narrative: Tyler Ginter’s “What is Combat Camera?”
• This charming-looking film above, Racing Dreams, just opened and is playing in select theaters nationwide. Racing Dreams follows three kids on the Go-Kart circuit who each have big dreams of making it to the Big Show, NASCAR. The film hasn’t hit LA yet, so we haven’t seen it – but the reviews have been good and it won the Best Documentary prize at Tribeca.
• The Autobiography Of Nicolae Ceausescu, a new documentary about the Romanian communist tyrant, is currently making some waves at Cannes. You can check out the film’s drily amusing trailer here.
• Another new indie film, After the Cup, begins hitting New York and Los Angeles theaters this week and next. This sports film, that’s gotten fantastic reviews, is about an Arab-Jewish soccer team that’s been simultaneously winning titles and unifying Israel. Very heartening, humanistic stuff. You can check out the trailer below.
By Jason Apuzzo. An exceptional documentary called The Surge: The Untold Story debuted at The G.I. Film Festival this past Sunday. Now that the film has shown at that festival, we’re screening the film here in its entirety at LFM.
Let’s begin with the title of this film. Why, first of all, is the extraordinary success story of our ‘surge’ in Iraq an ‘untold story’ to begin with? This story is ‘untold’ because the people primarily entrusted with shaping our national narrative – the mandarins of Hollywood – have been telling an entirely different story of late. They have been telling what might be termed the ‘Avatar-Green Zone story’ of defeat and demoralization in Iraq, the kind of story whereby the very conceptualizing of war in terms of ‘victory’ is regarded as fatally naive.
The Surge: The Untold Story dispenses with such fatalism – which is easy to do, since the film focuses on the actual facts on the ground. The Surge tells the story of how General David Petraeus, General Raymond Odierno, American troops and (the importance of this cannot be overstated) the Iraqi people themselves rallied to rescue their nation from the brink of utter barbarism. In a crisp, succinct 34 minutes, The Surge tells the story of how General Petraeus’ advanced counter-insurgency strategy – combined with the grit, bravery and sheer labor of his troops – helped rid Iraq of the ruthless terror networks that ruled the streets of Bagdad in 2006.
As I sat watching this film recently, what amazed me was how poorly the news networks had covered The Surge back in 2007. What, for example, was Petraeus’ particular genius in terms of his strategy for coping with Al Qaeda in Iraq? From The Surge we learn that Petraeus and Odierno devised a plan whereby American troops fought their way into terrorized areas, then erected mini-fortifications (like something out of Fort Apache) from which to protect and hold their areas. Then, American troops did something extraordinary … they went out and got to know the Iraqis themselves, went into their homes, made friendships, integrated themselves into their lives. From this position of rapport and trust, they rallied the Iraqis themselves to push Al Qaeda out of their midst.
The Surge does not dwell on the political aspects of the story back here in America – and the film is actually better for it. You will find no political pundits in this film – just the military men and women (and diplomats) who made this tremendous success story a reality. Their story is told in a tight, cohesive fashion – supported by extraordinary (and sometimes harrowing) documentary footage of the carnage Al Qaeda had wrought on Bagdad. And although Avatar has taught us to view our military leaders as sadistic and venal, Generals Petraeus and Odierno come across as sophisticated and sympathetic – their only interest being in restoring some measure of normality to the everyday lives of Iraqis.
The Surge should be mandatory viewing for anyone who wishes to have an intelligent opinion about the war, rather than merely an opinion. We hope you enjoy it.
