The search for truth in Iraq is fevered, often scrutinised to the extent that it is prioritised over current affairs. After seven years of prolonged hostilities, and no ‘weapons of mass destruction’ retrieved, a question remains unanswered. Why?
Set in 2003, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller, is head of a unit charged with finding WMD’s in Baghdad, as alleged sites come up empty, he suspects flawed intelligence. With his concerns flatly shot down, and stalling tactics by the Pentagon, Miller goes rebel in an attempt to source the intelligence’s origin. But, the further he advances down the political trail, the more tangled the truth becomes.
The screenplay penned by Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential and Mystic River), is inspired by non-fiction release ‘Imperial Life in the Emerald: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone’ by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Chandrasekaran, the former Baghdad bureau chief for The Washington Post, depicts the naivety of American judgement that led to the liberation of Iraq descending into chaos, calamity, and civil war. Helgeland’s Green Zone is structured as a conspiracy thriller, intersecting a fictionalised search for WMD intelligence, amid the civil, and political unrest towards rebuilding Iraq sourced from Chandrasekaran.
Green Zone thrusts the audience into the street-level chaos surrounding Baghdad, as the first wave of the ‘shock and awe’ bombing campaign begins. From the opening credits, there is no let up from director Paul Greengrass. Undoubtedly, at ease with his style of visceral immediacy created by hand-held cameras, whiplash editing, and his ‘put you in the action’ compositions. After all, it is this verisimilitude look he developed on the Bourne Supremacy, and Bourne Ultimatum, that has re-defined the action-thriller genre.
Matt Damon is perfectly cast as Miller, portraying a credible steely toughness, matched with a physical prowess honed during his previous roles as Jason Bourne. Still, it is the credibility that Damon delivers as a soldier endeavouring to do his duty, a patriot, struggling to comprehend the incompetence or deceit that surrounds him, that permits Damon to carry the film.
But, it is here, that the film loses integrity. With Miller off base, asserting an undeviating determinism to rebel against the orthodoxy of superiors, Green Zone shifts from political thriller, to a one-man against the world action-thriller, not dissimilar to his earlier Bourne outings.
On his search for answers, Damon interacts with a superb support cast. Amy Ryan, of The Wire and Gone Baby Gone, is disappointingly redundant as duped Wall Street Journal Foreign Correspondent, Lawrie Dayne. It is she who gives credence to WMD intelligence, but never commands the threat, or respect, that her position really should. Greg Kinnear delivers as untrustworthy Defence Intelligence agent, Clark Poundstone. Providing a very real, assured, wily politician who prioritises his own agenda above the casualties of war. Jason Isaac’s imposes himself as Briggs, a ‘friendly’ foe to Miller, despite his slight screen time. And Brendan Gleeson as Martin Brown, an old guard CIA operative, offers an insightful go between for Miller, and to the audience in terms of exposition that keep you on track with plot's development.
In its execution comparisons will, of course, be made to Green Zone and the Greengrass/Damon Bourne franchise. Indeed, their connection lies deeper than simply production team and style, with the themes of political deceit, corruption, and cover-ups transcending both films. But, with Bourne, an audience caught up with the amnesiac assassin, could subdue their receptiveness to these themes. By relocating to Baghdad, to a fresh scenario like the Iraqi war, it continuously stirs unease, raises questions to accountability, and criticises political decisions that have governed the progress of Iraq.
The flaw is that it is torn between credible political thriller, and a fast- paced action thriller. Cut together to make the message accessible for the masses, it sways from entertainment, to the exploration of the events early into the Iraq war. But, the balance is lost in the name of closure, it is a Hollywood blockbuster after all, as it teeters on edge of being Bourne in Baghdad in its finale.
Still, Green Zone is a non-stop politically charged ride, aiming for accessibility, it combines entertainment, and provocation of thought, confirming this genre belongs to Greengrass and Damon.
VERDICT:
***
MATT RICHARDSON
