Full Battle Rattle (2007)

73% of critics liked it
(30 reviews)
77% of users liked it
(228 ratings)

Before American soldiers are deployed to Iraq, they're given special training at the National Training Center on the Ft. Irwin Military Reservation, located in California's Mojave Desert. The National Training Center has constructed a simulated Iraqi village called Medina Wasl in the desert, where… More Before American soldiers are deployed to Iraq, they're given special training at the National Training Center on the Ft. Irwin Military Reservation, located in California's Mojave Desert. The National Training Center has constructed a simulated Iraqi village called Medina Wasl in the desert, where new soldiers battle "insurgents" (played by returning U.S. troops) and interact with "ordinary citizens" (many portrayed by Iraqi exiles who've ended up in the United States) as they learn the ins and outs of combat in the Middle East. Filmmakers Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss follow Lt. Col. Robert McLaughlin as he drums the art of war into his charges in Full Battle Rattle, a documentary that offers a behind-the-scenes look at Medina Wasl, the soldiers who learn there, the people who organize the war games, and the people who've been hired to play-act at being the "enemy." Full Battle Rattle received its world premiere as an official entry at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 32 min.
Directed By: Jesse Moss, Tony Gerber
Genres: Documentary, Special Interest

In Theaters: Feb 9, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Sep 22, 2009

Critic Reviews

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter
A docu about modern war games in the California desert contains little insight into the Iraq War.
Eddie Cockrell, Variety
A so-so pic on an incendiary subject.
J. Hoberman, Village Voice
One of the many surreal aspects of this fabulously disorienting movie: its representation of an Iraqi heaven that's an American hell.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Just when I thought I had heard everything about the war in Iraq, along comes Full Battle Rattle.
A.O. Scott, New York Times
This documentary gives a remarkably thorough and detailed account of the difficult conditions facing American soldiers in Iraq.
David Edelstein, New York Magazine
The film is freaky, amusing, and sickening in equal measures -- part fly-on-the-wall vérité, part multiple-perspective Altmanesque tragicomedy.
Kam Williams, Sly Fox
GIs play simulated war games in Mojave Desert documentary. Who knew?
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
Fake or real, Full Battle Rattle just doesn't cut it.
Jennifer Merin, About.com
Somewhere in the Mohave Desert, the U.S. military maintains a large rural compound that contains several fake Iraqi towns. It's Disneyland for war games
Jonathan Romney, Screen International
An entertaining, often very funny, but ultimately revealing and unsettling film about a US Army camp in the Mojave Desert where Iraq War conditions are simulated for training purposes.
Matthew Sorrento, Film Threat
Keeping the style objective and routine, [co-directors Tony] Gerber and [Jesse] Moss remain non-judgmental of the bizarre carnival they have uncovered.
Bill White, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
It is an enlightening lesson in modern warfare.
Tom Keogh, Seattle Times
A keenly insightful film concerning an unusual training program for war-bound U.S. soldiers.
Sean Gandert, Paste Magazine
this is such small stakes compared to the real war that the film can't help but feel equally unimportant.
Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics
If you thought Disneyland was fun, take a trip to this complete simulated Iraqi village in California, and learn how the other half live. And die.
Eric Monder, Film Journal International
Educational and enlightening.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
This increasingly complicated scenario isn't scripted, peace is far from guaranteed and the line between reality and its incredible simulation has a funny way of getting blurry.
Christopher Campbell, Cinematical
On one level, Full Battle Rattle is enjoyable for the theatrics ... On a second level ... is appreciable for what it says about the U.S. military's involvement in Iraq.
Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters
In Full Battle Rattle, the Iraq Simulation and the war are both real and not real, confusing, painful, and horrific, for the refugees working as role players.
Noel Murray, AV Club
Full Battle Rattle works just fine as a two-fisted combat story, with unexpected bursts of violence peppering that old universal message that war is hell. But the added layer of pretense pushes the movie to another level.

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