Result is 'a pulsating pictorial of the effects of terror'
This spring, Pat Dollard's Young Americans will air on cable television, the result of years of work. But there's a good reason for the time it has taken: Pat Dollard is a man obsessed with reality, his reality of the war he experienced while embedded with the 3rd battalion 7th Marines in Ramadi.
Mixing that desire with Hollywood never is simple, either. Getting attention for movie projects often is a large part of the goal, with much of a project's budget going to advertising. Just that attention can make a film a blockbuster or package it for the discounted DVDs. Publicity is everything in Hollywood, and that's what makes the films about the war in Iraq so different.
Despite a lot of attention, films like Redacted have been shunned by mass audiences and panned by critics who actually wanted to like the film or agree with the message.
"I am glad the movie was made, and I wish it were better," said a New York Times film critic in an attempt to be as flattering as possible to much celebrated director Brian De Palma.
his spring, Pat Dollard's Young Americans will air on cable television, the result of years of work. But there's a good reason for the time it has taken: Pat Dollard is a man obsessed with reality, his reality of the war he experienced while embedded with the 3rd battalion 7th Marines in Ramadi.
Mixing that desire with Hollywood never is simple, either. Getting attention for movie projects often is a large part of the goal, with much of a project's budget going to advertising. Just that attention can make a film a blockbuster or package it for the discounted DVDs. Publicity is everything in Hollywood, and that's what makes the films about the war in Iraq so different.
Despite a lot of attention, films like Redacted have been shunned by mass audiences and panned by critics who actually wanted to like the film or agree with the message.
"I am glad the movie was made, and I wish it were better," said a New York Times film critic in an attempt to be as flattering as possible to much celebrated director Brian De Palma.
The first five minutes were exhilarating and frightening. I found myself nodding my head and anticipating what was going to happen, because I had been there before.
Dollard himself makes no pretense of objectivity, his website sells "Jihad Killer" shirts and during Young Americans the audience will hear Dollard's voice give on-the-spot editorials.
"You see, you liberals, this is what you're supporting!"
...
Over half a year and 600 hours of footage in the formerly most dangerous place on earth has had a spill-over effect into how Dollard perceives the world today.
"The best of spiritual America, the spirit of America is in Iraq," is how he describes it. Being spared when so many around him died has had a profound effect on this documentarian. "I'm a God man myself."
A part of this literal cultural warrior still is in Ramadi. "I feel contempt for the average civilian," Dollard says. "I can't stand that I live in a culture, especially in Hollywood, where measure of man is self-indulgence."
Young Americans debuts this spring on Showtime. You have been warned.
0 comments:
Post a Comment