The War Tapes at Guild Thru Thursday

From Terry Riley. "The War Tapes," a film recorded by U.S. troops in Iraq, is being shown at
the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque thru Thursday, August 10th, at 4:30, 6:30 and 8:30 PM. An article in today's Albuquerque Tribune describes the film and the appearance of Mike Moriarty, one of the soldiers who shot the movie at Monday's screening. Well worth a read. Excerpt:

The movie stirred viewers Monday evening. Keif Henley, who runs the Guild, said, "In my 11 years at this place, I can't remember a time when I've seen people walking out of a movie - even before it's over - in tears like that."

One woman, having walked out of the screening, sat in the lobby's lone chair, her head in her hands, nearly inconsolable. When asked if any one scene in particular upset her, she said, "No. All of it."

From the carnage to the civilian contractors' greed to the Lebanese soldier "fighting against his own people," she said, the film overwhelmed her. She declined to give her name.

... With an unflinching eye, "The War Tapes" runs from the mundane lives of infantrymen - intercut with scenes from their family lives back home in New England - to brutal and graphic images. Dead bodies are shown. There are bloody close-ups, with running commentary from the soldiers often comparing body parts to cuts of meat you'd find in a butcher shop.

Footage like that and the shaky camera work mean the film is not for the squeamish. One scene shows a convoy zipping along at 50 mph when Moriarty's vehicle clips an Iraqi woman, who quickly gets run over repeatedly by U.S. military vehicles and killed. Moriarty's camera whirs as what's left of her is rolled up into a body bag.