Gunner Palace (2004)
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85% of critics liked it
(104 reviews) -
60% of users liked it
(2,343 ratings)
Shortly after President George W. Bush announced that "major combat operations have ended" in the war in Iraq, filmmaker Michael Tucker (a self-described "Army brat" whose father served in Vietnam) traveled to Baghdad, where he and his camera crew were embedded with the 2-3 Army… More Shortly after President George W. Bush announced that "major combat operations have ended" in the war in Iraq, filmmaker Michael Tucker (a self-described "Army brat" whose father served in Vietnam) traveled to Baghdad, where he and his camera crew were embedded with the 2-3 Army Field Artillery unit, improbably based out of a bombed-out mansion which once belonged to Saddam Hussein and his son Uday. Tucker and his crew spent two months with the soldiers of the 2-3 FA (in September 2003 and February 2004), following the young men and women as they went about their daily rounds in a land where they were welcomed by some and targeted by others. Gunner Palace offers a sympathetic but objective portrait of the American fighters as they go on routine patrol, try to ferret out insurgents, help train Iraqi forces, keep an eye peeled for homemade explosives, police some of the local troublemakers, and for the most part simply try to get through their days without the loss of life and limb in the midst of what they sarcastically call "minor combat operations." Gunner Palace received its world premier at the 2004 Telluride Film Festival and became the first documentary about the war in Iraq to be shot and released while the war was still taking place. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Michael Tucker (I), Petra Epperlein
- Genres
- Documentary, Special Interest
PG-13,
- In Theaters
- Mar 4, 2005 Wide
- Studio
- Palm Pictures
Critic Reviews
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Peter Howell, Toronto Star
Tucker takes it all in without taking a stand, though his sympathies -- expressed through voiceover narration -- clearly lie with the men and women in the field.
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Bill Muller, Arizona Republic
You certainly can't question Tucker's bravery, but you may occasionally feel the urge to ask him to be quiet.
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Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
While Gunner Palace has the immediacy of street rap, it is actually a throwback to the cinema verite style of pioneering documentarians D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles and Frederick Wiseman.
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Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
But they're very good at documenting the tedium of the place and the work, the banal dangers of an occupation where the enemy could be anyone.
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Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
The film's strength -- and its weakness -- is in its you-are-there view of guys who are e-mailing their loved ones back home one minute and breaking down the doors of Iraqi homes the next, on the hunt for the enemy.
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