Gunner Palace, 3 stars

Sheepishly I admit to being among the majority of the American public who have shown little tolerance for films, fictional or documentary, dealing with the second Gulf War. I skipped "In the Valley of Elah", "No End in Sight", "Taxi to the Dark Side", and many of the other media portrayals of this conflict. The only other Iraq documentary I had seen was "Voices of Iraq", which has risen in my estimation since I saw "Gunner Palace." "Voices of Iraq" was made by editing footage taken by Iraqis who had been given digital video cameras and told to record their experiences. This resulted in a level of access and candor that would almost certainly not have been given to a white/American/British cameraperson.

In contrast, "Gunner Palace" seems to have been made by a cameraman embedded with a particular company of soldiers who have their base in a run-down pleasure palace that once belonged to Uday Hussein. This interesting change of use is not particularly well-addressed, despite the movie being named after the place. Some context or history, or perhaps records of events that had happened there under Hussein, would have provided contrast. Instead we come in after the American forces have already repurposed the palace. We tag along on raids and daily patrols, and here the film actually does a serviceable job of conveying the monotony of these tasks. Soldiers are asked to alternate instantly between boredom and taut alertness when suspicious packages show up on the road, and the stress of this lifestyle expresses itself in impromptu music and rap from the soldiers. Besides conveying this state of mind, however, the film seems to have little reason for being. No new information is conveyed and the territory seems familiar. The subtitling is irregular, sometimes accompanying spoken English for no reason, and the camerawork (as might be expected in such a hostile environment) is workmanlike. I'm sure there are better documentaries out there; "Voices of Iraq" is one, and if I had not joined the American public in avoiding this topic in film, I would probably have futher recommendations.