Product Description

In late 2003, two filmmakers from the Sundance award-winning Guerrilla News Network spent three weeks on the frontlines of the simmering guerrilla war in Iraq, gathering intelligence, dodging bullets, and capturing the untold stories of what has become the world's most covered, and misunderstood, conflict.

BattleGround is an intensely emotional journey that challenges the orthodoxies of Left and Right, capturing the humanity that exists behind the headline-grabbing images of carnage and sectarian strife. Calling it a "movingly human and many-sided portrait of the war," the New York Times Magazine singled out BattleGround from other Iraq war documentaries as "more the exception than the rule." It a critical film for anyone who wants to understand the powerful forces that are sucking America deeper and deeper into a Middle Eastern quagmire.

BattleGround won the Silver Hugo Award for documentaries at the 2004 Chicago International Film Festival. It aired on Showtime American in the Spring of 2005.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99712 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 2006-01-10
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 82 minutes

Tom Bissell, New York Times Magazine
"Few of the Iraq-war documentaries offer [much] self-awareness, though, and most neglect to address the war as a result of choices that might have been made differently. The one that comes closest is probably Stephen Marshall’s ‘Battleground.’ In showing us insurgents discussing their hatred of Americans while Humvees pass by, an Iraqi translator explaining that the invasion was due to the collapse of the American economy, a former anti-Saddam guerrilla reuniting with his mother after 13 years of exile and a U.S. officer marveling at the fact that Iraqis wear jeans ('They could be anywhere in the United States’), 'Battleground’ provides a movingly human and many-sided portrait of the war. It is, however, more the exception than the rule."

Customer Reviews

Finding Context in Chaos
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was hailed as the most openly accessible war in history. While embedded journalists traveled with U.S. and British troops on the back of Humvees into battle zones, news audiences received on the ground info in real time. The images and information captured by war journos was remarkable in their proximity to conflict but the context of the information was directly framed by what the Pentagon allowed journalists to cover. You either played by the rules and got access or you were left out in the cold.
Battleground, in contrast, is an exercise in capturing the context of the invasion from a truly independent, sober perspective. Opinions of American soldiers and commanders were presented alongside actual Iraqi voices. Montages of Iraqi street scenes link powerful narratives of homegrown debates on the merits of the invasion, the emotional homecoming of a former anti-Saddam rebel forced into exile, a citizen journalist informing people on the dangers of Depleted Uranium, and the inner-workings of American Military strategies for restructuring Iraqi society. This film captures what really happened on the ground in the aftermath of a massive military campaign- without government influence. The absence of framing and ideology is a breath of fresh air in the documentary genre.
The stories captured in this film are unique and immensely informative- all stemming from the micro level. There are no voice-overs staging the flow of information. The plot is recounted by real people who find themselves in Iraq at the beginning of a new history. "Battleground" never attempts to re-write Iraq's past nor does it predict its future. Instead, the filmmakers offer the audience a lucid depiction of context- a crucial processes that was entirely absent from news coverage of the invasion.
Battleground is a must-see for anyone craving a balanced on-the-ground depiction of what really happened in Iraq in 2003. Rich in visual energy and powerful music, Battleground is not over-stylized. It is however, immensely informative, beautifully spontaneous, and an extraordinary example of bearing witness to world events and placing them in context.

Great Documentary
If you're interested in learning more about Iraq but don't know where to turn to (between Fox and CNN) than this is the documentary for you.

This is the type of documentary you'll probably watch two or three times and recommend a hundred times. I look forward to more docs from director Stephen Marshall.

Good Film!
This film gives good insight on the feelings of the Iraqi nationals about the war there and the American soldiers that are there.