Severe Clear

Men have been making movies about war for as long as there have been movie cameras, but few of them even come close to capturing the madness and humanity the way director Kristian Fraga and star Marine First Lieutenant Mike Scotti do in this excellent documentary. The story follows Scotti and his fellow marines as they make the 2003 military invasion march across Iraq to capture Saddam Hussein, liberate the people and recover the weapons of mass destruction the soldiers (and the world) had been told the dictator was hiding. Whatever politics you may have had then, or have now, won’t matter as you watch Scotti and the Marines fight their way across the desert. Some of the images captured on video by the soldiers who were fighting will haunt you, but no more than the overall feeling you are left with that no matter what, you haven’t done enough to thank the men and women who were doing the fighting, whether you agree with the war or not.