The first in a series of documentary films I went to see about America’s military and its ideological role in the world was Woodhead’s Star Wars.
The goal of the documentary was to show that since the cold war, “star wars” have been on the agenda of American conservative politicians, and the privately-owned nuclear, missile and aircraft companies, whose pockets “star wars” would line.
Though most people would consider this style of documentary less interesting, perhaps because it is less experimental in its approach, it was a welcomed addition to the evening’s stream of somewhat directionless films.
This documentary had a theory and development its argument into clearly identifiable points. Thus, when the narrator announced Americans do not have enough military power to create the defense shield, but spare no cost in trying to convince us that we need one – it felt like a purposeful conclusion based on evidence, both testimonial and factual. Biased or not, I was satisfied in my viewing experience at Star Wars. Unfortunately, this was not my experience at every screening.
The next film I viewed was This Ain’t No Heartland by Austrian filmmaker Andreas Horvath. It seemed to have a less direct narrative approach. If mindless rhetoric was supposed to be the result of the edited clips from what seemed like endless quotes from so-called “dumb Americans”, then This Ain’t No Heartland was a hit I suppose.
Perhaps I am biased in my need for a more positive message since the 2004 American elections but speaking from an artistic standpoint, the film only managed to offer up clip after clip without really developing any strong thread of theoretical and paradigmatic goals.
Perhaps my own inability to grasp the message is at fault, but I thought their intended message would have hit me harder if I were forced to see that same American mentality wield power on a world scale. One very good example of this type of juxtaposition was available in Home of the Brave by Norwegian director John Sullivan.
This film gave us a peek into a world in which we have little to no first-hand knowledge.
He followed the American Special Forces as they conducted missions to villages on the outskirts of Jalalabad. They were searching for drugs, weapons and Al-Qaida informants.
Their second mandate was to provide some clothing, toys, blankets, and the occasional box of preservative-packed muffins to local refugees. The Americans also set up temporary medical stands where they treated locals with western pharmaceuticals. They did this to establish a relationship of “trust” with the locals so they could call upon them later for information on the activities of warlords.
The Americans also hired Afghans to conduct raids, sending them into villages first and making them do the hard labour.
The American soldiers seemed to share the belief that “we are the good guys” and their presence in Afghanistan was for purely noble means – that, unlike the Russians, or the British, the Americans had no desire to colonize or control, but only to help.
We watched them conduct numerous raids, disrupting the lives of the poor locals in order to search for bombs or drugs, and leaving a mess behind them. They occasionally found some and confiscated them, only to hear that more have been put in their place…and the cycle continues.
We were witness to numerous arrests and some beatings of Afghani informants and warlord “employees”. One can’t help but think Americans were ruining all their attempts to build trusting relationships with locals. Seems their first mandate cancels out their second. Americans were repeatedly shown to treat the Afghans with contempt, while they disrupted countless lives doing their “heroic duty”. The filmmaker was unsympathetic in his reporting of those disturbing events, and his sarcastic commentary reflects his distrust for the American notions of heroism. Home of the Brave achieves what This Ain’t no Heartland failed to. It juxtaposed contradictions in the actions and opinions of the American soldiers.
The last shot echoed this sarcasm as he fades out on a scene with a few American soldiers standing by their jeeps, holding their guns erect, their silhouettes carved out by the setting sun in the background, while a country and heroism-praising western song chides us from the corners of the theatre. Obviously the shot was set up. Obviously the soldiers did not see the irony.
The Septi
