War Feels Like War

Infobox Film | name = War Feels Like War


caption =
director = Esteban Manzanares Uyarra
producer = Esteban Manzanares Uyarra
writer =
starring = P.J. O'Rourke
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = P.O.V.
released = 2004
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language = English
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" War Feels Like War " is a 2004 British documentary film. It was broadcast in the United States on the P.O.V. series. For three months, Spanish filmmaker Esteban Manzanares Uyarra followed five reporters and photographers from Denmark, Norway, Poland, and the United States in Iraq. These journalists circumvented military media control to get access to a different perspective on the Iraq War. As the Coalition of the willing swept into Iraq, some journalists in Kuwait decided to travel in their wake, risking their lives to discover the impact of war on civilians. cite journal
first =Caryn
last =James
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2004
month =May 21
title =The War's Dark Side: Filling In the Blanks
journal =The New York Times
volume =
issue =
pages =1
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url = http://www.igottheconch.com/index.php?title=Iraq_war#The_War.27s_Dark_Side:_Filling_In_the_Blanks ] cite web
title =War Feels Like War
work =pbs.org
url =http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2004/warfeelslikewar/index.html
accessdate=2006-09-05 ] cite journal
first =
last =
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year =2005
month =January 29
title =Film: The Five Best Revivals
journal =The Independent
volume =
issue =
pages = 25
id =
url = ] cite journal
first =Lindsay
last =Gibb
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2004
month =September
title =Hot Docs (4/23-5/2/04)
journal =Canadian Business and Current Affairs Take One
volume =13 ;
issue =46
pages =50–51
id =ISSN 1192-5507
url = ] cite journal
first = Heather
last =Logue
authorlink =
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year =2004
month =September 22, Wednesday
title =Counting the Fall Fish
journal =Seattle Weekly
volume =
issue =
pages =15
id =
url = ] cite journal
first =David
last =Zurawik
authorlink =
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year =2004
month =July 6, Tuesday
title =Seeing war on their own; 'P.O.V' reports on reporters; TV Preview
journal =The Baltimore Sun
volume =
issue =
pages =1D
id =
url =http://www.igottheconch.com/index.php?title=War_Feels_Like_War#Seeing_war_on_their_own ]

The journalists include best-selling author P.J. O'Rourke, who was working for ABC Radio, as well as reporters and photographers for news operations ranging from Poland's Radio Zet to Stephanie Sinclair, a photographer for the Chicago Tribune.

Plot

In the film, journalist crews are first seen trying to avoid being penned up in Kuwait City as the war is about to break. Other journalists repeatedly try to get through military zones to capture what's happening.

Once these journalists make it into Iraq, they capture troops at their frazzled ends, cussing. A journalist described a Scud missile "whizzing" by is artfully juxtaposed with a shot of a string of photographers taking a "whiz".

The reporters themselves wrestle with grisly images and the effect it may have on their humanity. One journalist admits she felt, "I'm in over my head," but presses on. Later, she says of a tragic scene she has just witnessed, "If that doesn't affect you, you should find something else to do. That sh-t should always affect you." The U.S. later bombs the Baghdad hotel where these journalists are staying. After the gunfire stops, a Polish journalist files a radio report that says, "It doesn't look good," adding that a Marine has told him "too many people still have weapons." cite journal
first =Roger
last =Catlin
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2004
month =July 6
title =CBS Gets Real With Fifth 'Amazing Race,' 'Big Brother'
journal =Hartford Courant (Connecticut)
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url = ] cite journal
first =David
last =Kronke
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2004
month =July 4
title =The Daily News Watch-O-Rama; Highlights And Lowlights Of The Coming TV Week
journal =The Daily News of Los Angeles
volume =
issue =
pages =U11
id =
url = ]

Awards and film critics' views

"War Feels Like War" was awarded Honourable Mention for Best International Documentary by the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto, Canada. cite journal
first =Tamsen
last =Tillson
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2004
month =May 3
title =War is Hot Docs touchstone
journal =Daily Variety
volume =
issue =
pages =15
id =
url = ] cite journal
first =Etan
last =Vlessing
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2004
month =April 5, Monday
title =Hot Docs! putsfocus on int'l war, terror
journal =The Hollywood Reporter
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url = ]

In addition, it was shortlisted for the Silver Wolf Competition in the 2003 International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and was awarded the Jury Prize at the 2004 MovieEye Festival in Moscow.

Esteban Uyarra was also nominated in the Best Newcomer category in the 2004 Grierson British Documentary Awards.

The New York Times wrote:

cquote|We are placed in amazing close-up as American soldiers search for a sniper on the streets of Baghdad. The soldiers line up suspects on the ground, hands tied behind them, faces in the dust; one puts a boot on a suspect's neck. The film doesn't present easy or polemical answers: the Americans' danger is real and so is their harsh treatment of the Iraqis. And it takes nothing away from embedded reporters to appreciate the lack of constraint in these unattached journalists' stories.

These films might leave viewers wondering what direction American war coverage will take, now that there are at least a few signs of change. CBS, after all, showed the first Abu Ghraib photos on "60 Minutes II." Anchors seem less reverential than they were in the first "shock and awe" days of the war; this week when Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, testified before Congress about the future of American troops in Iraq, Peter Jennings introduced the report by saying, "Many of the administration's plans are not very clear."

Baltimore Sun television critic David Zurawik stated:

David Kronke of The Daily News of Los Angeles states:

M.S. Mason of the Christian Science Monitor states:

cquote|This fascinating documentary follows a few members of the press corps into war zones. Some of them are cynical: human tragedy makes great TV, notes one journalist. A young woman from the Chicago Tribune, however, thinks about the photos she takes. When an older photographer tells her in a few years she'll be just like him, she demurs, smiling. She wants never to become so hardened that human suffering cannot move her. cite journal
first =M.S.
last =Mason
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 2004
month =July 2
title =Tuning in: On TV this week.
journal =Christian Science Monitor
volume =
issue =
pages =16
id =
url = ]

Notes

ee also

*"Axis of Evil"
*"Baghdad or Bust"
*"Control Room"
*"Kill The Messenger"
*"My Country, My Country"