Battle for Haditha Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

Shocking reality of what the Americans are doing!!!

This film is bad news for the Americans, shows truely how dumb there army is!!!

Watch the film and see what you think!!

bad taste

Well i have to admit i switched this film off after a while, i just didnt like the story line it was too much to sit and watch. Too much killing of innocent people because of american soliders loosing the plot. this film sickened me. I love shoot em`ups but this one came in bad taste. 0/10

Even Handed Account

Nick Broomfield provides the antidote to Michael Moore's one sided rants in this gripping and moving account of the events at Haditha.

There is no getting round the fact that it happened, the film makes no judgements or excuses, just shows you a fair account.

The real villains of the piece are shown to be the insurgents, and the real victims the ordinary Iraqis trying to live their lives.

[Highly rated reviewer]

No-one can judge.

A very good exercise in showing the reasons that led to the actions of the people on all sides of this war. It shows you that you can't really judge anyone. These people (on both sides) are being pushed to limits that YOU, seating on your comfortable sofa in Great Britain, can't even begin to imagine, let alone say that you wouldn't commit similar atrocities if found in the same situation. If you, as a constantly terrified marine saw pieces of your friend scattered after a road side explosion that near killed you too, or as an Iraqi saw your husband and son just killed for absolutely no reason, or your children starving after your life job was taken away and given to an American corporation, with the added humiliation of having to let American soldiers into your house to turn it upside down looking for insurgents... who knows what you'd end up doing...

In the end, despite their crimes, all these people (BOTH insurgents and US soldiers) are victims! They all committed monstrosities they would never have committed if they hadn't been put in such a terrible extreme situation by the REAL criminals who, for one, are the ONLY ones gaining from the situation, and shamefully (and this makes me bitterly angry) will go to the grave without ever facing a court of law for their crimes of war...

Away from this and more into the actual movie, the beginning is not very good... it just shows US soldiers hanging out, improvising rubbish conversations like I guess they'd have in real life, the dialogues are quite poor. Of course it all gets very powerful after the action kicks in.

Elliot Ruiz has a powerful performance, conveys the authority of a leader with impressive realism and knowledgeability. The fact that all soldiers are actual veterans of Iraq and all Iraqis are actual exiled Iraqis was very important to add to the realism. Whenever they cry, it's quite harrowing because many times they're actually crying for their past experiences and for their dead loved ones...

A must see, will hopefully make you realise more clearly that it's not us 'liberators' (good) versus them insurgents (evil), but it's actually THEM people in power (evil) versus ALL of us (good). And 'ALL of us' should get together and put these criminals in jail.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Judge not, that ye be not judged

The anti-American shallowness of the 1 Star reviews, posted to date, just about sums up the way the world is going. It would seem, according to one such reviewer, that the actions of the “American Pigs” in the Haditha incident were monstrous, and I would have to agree, but he fails to suggest that the ongoing actions of the Iraqi insurgents are equally so. I would propose that, whilst acknowledging the horror of such awful events, we do not condemn the individuals operating under such conditions unless we have personally experienced the same, and, as a result, can confidently say that we acted differently under those same circumstances. Can anybody know their immediate reaction to seeing their friend and comrade blown apart? It’s all very well passing judgement from the comfort of our living rooms, but it is exactly that sort of reactionary condemnation that fuels hatred.

Of course, by the same token, should we really be surprised by the reaction of the ordinary Iraqi people following such events as those depicted in the film?

This film is excellent, though at times disturbing, and does not appear to pass judgement on those involved in the events in the same way as some of the previous reviewers. It is almost documentary-like in style, and shows the events quite even-handedly from both sides, clearly demonstrating the futility of this 'war'.

If we feel the need to criticise, or pass judgement, perhaps our comments should be directed at the politicians who sent the troops in, for their mishandling of the war, and not at the troops themselves.

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[Highly rated reviewer]

Can it really be like this?

First off I honestly can't understand how people can give this film 1 star purely because they disagree with the American presence in Iraq. I'll try and keep my own political views out of this review and keep it to a critique of the merits of the film.

First thing to state is that this isn't a film to watch if you're expecting a version of 'Saving Private Ryan' set in Iraq, the 'battle' scene (there's only really one) comes near the end of the movie and isn't really all that great. This is a drama first and foremost and goes out to portray the effects of the war on the American Marines, the Iraqi civilians and the Insurgents.

The acting is average in my opinion, and I was very aware that I was watching 'actors' in some scenes as opposed to immersing myself in the dialogue - some of it just feels stilted and clunky.

The movie builds up quite nicely to the final few scenes - we get to see the Marines on patrols, the Insurgents preparing their bomb and the civilians going about daily life until it all kicks off at the end. However the movie then quickly falls flat - there's no real ending and it just kind of peters out without any resolution for any of the 3 groups.

Thought Provoking

This documentary style film appeared to be a pretty unbiased and factual portrayal of the events but obviously I wasn't there, so I cannot vouch for the accuracy. I believe that there have been some very narrow minded reviews left for this film. Whilst each review is purely the opinion of that reviewer, I feel that those 1 star reviewers need to reflect on who the real 'Bad Guys' are here, and consider not just the subject of a film, but it's presentation and portrayal when submitting a review. A good film covering a very controversial and sad event.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Excellent & depressing

Yet another example of the fact that you can't send in the brightest people to put their lives at risk without knowing why & this is usually the way it's done.

From the spirit of the story:

' I just realised that I've slaughtered a whole load of innocent men, women & children who (Suprisingly) don't want me here & I don't approve of any of it. The thing is that they are all dead now & I'm not sure what to do about it.'

Hmmm....

Customer Review

Some people may find it hard to believe the US forces do not behave in the way this film shows, I am not one of those people. This film shows the reality of what happens when proffesional judgement is clouded by emotion and the negativity of war itself. The film is a balanced account of an event in Haditha. People of the world took to the streets in protest against at the war led by the US and UK in Iraq and still they went in bombing a country back to the middle ages - shame on them. Not light entertainment.

Battle for Haditha

I thoroughly enjoyed this film and it gave an excellent picture of just how difficult it is being a US combatant in Iraq. When mistakes like this are made by junior NCOs as portrayed in this film, then they are simply creating more martyrs or suicide bombers. Whatever the rights and wrongs and all the atrocities there is no excuse for pulling civilians out of a car, lining them up and executing them just as the Nazis did. However, anyone interested in military ops and the difficult conditions of the US soldiers in Iraq will enjoy this film.