THE GROUND TRUTH in Theaters
August 8th, 2006 by Andre Soares
Focus Films will release Patricia Foulkrod’s The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends in U.S. theaters on Sep. 15. Eleven days later, the documentary will come out on DVD.
The Ground Truth depicts the effects of military training and ground combat on American soldiers who’ve served in Iraq, and how the U.S. government and society — despite all the "support our troops" yellow ribbons attached to the back of gas-guzzling SUVs — couldn’t care less about their warriors once they’ve returned home.
The documentary also includes shots of basic training, and of computer images representing Iraqi civilians blown to pieces by U.S. rocket fire. As a plus, one of the interviewees gets to sing a cute marching ditty about the joys of killing kids in school — just a teeny bit of Navy brainwashing.
Both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have given solid reviews to Foulkrod’s documentary. Even though James Greenberg’s Hollywood Reporter commentary tends to go for patriotic verbosity (similar to the Focus Films approach to selling the film) — "how we mistreat our best and bravest young men" and the like — it is still worth a read.
After all, in such a militaristic culture even liberals like the New York Times‘ Bob Herbert and Frank Rich must add the adjectives "brave" and/or "honorable" whenever mentioning U.S. military personnel in Iraq. Here’s hoping that Foulkrod’s film doesn’t resort to that sort of patronizing — and really, dishonest — rhetoric, especially since The Ground Truth supposedly deals with atrocities committed by U.S. troops, many (most?) of whom are still in Iraq not because they want to, but because they don’t know how to get the hell out.
In fact, I’m curious to see The Ground Truth to find out if the director asks those men, now ravaged by the wholesale slaughter they’ve witnessed and/or committed in Iraq, why they joined the military in the first place, considering that at this point in time the horrors of war should be no secret to anyone with even a mere handful of firing neurons.
Why would they willfully allow themselves to be turned into killing machines? Was it the desire to fight for freedom and equal rights for all? (If so, it would be interesting to hear their definitions of "freedom" and "equality," and how invading Iraq would help them achieve their goal.) To avenge the September 2001 terrorist attacks? (If so, how did they think the U.S. military would rid the world of terrorists? And in Iraq, a country not involved in the attacks.) The desire to kill and destroy? To follow the family tradition? To feel manly? A passion for guns? Culturally ingrained tribalism? The need to be told what to do at all times? The belief that men in uniform get laid more often? To use their military stint as a stepping stone for a career elsewhere (while hoping that no war would break out while they were in service)? A desperate need to escape from their civilian lives (better deal with a terrorist Muslim than with a terrorizing mother-in-law)?
And if anyone knows of a documentary that focuses on the plight of the millions of Iraqi civilians — who somehow manage to go on living despite air bombs, car bombs, truck bombs, human bombs, and no air conditioning — please let me know. Those unsung people (had they been Americans, the U.S. media would invariably refer to them as "brave and honorable heroes") are not gone (yet) but they are about as forgotten as those who died in battle in that part of the world while Alexander of Macedon was doing his best to spread his vision of "freedom" to those who weren’t asking for it.
Would a documentary about those Iraqi survivors — the irreparable physical, psychological, and emotional damage they’ve suffered and its lasting efects — be picked up for distribution anywhere in the U.S.? And even if it did, would anyone care?
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