Keeping the style objective and routine, [co-directors Tony] Gerber and [Jesse] Moss remain non-judgmental of the bizarre carnival they have uncovered.
Comment
08/14/08
Full Battle Rattle (2008)
74 %
Reviews Counted: 23 Fresh: 17 Rotten:6 Average Rating: 6.6/10
Consensus:
Full Battle Rattle is an insightful, eye-opening account of the preparations soldiers must make for their service in Iraq.
Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Theatrical Release: Jul 9, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: An intriguing and sometimes intimate documentary, FULL BATTLE RATTLE is an important peek behind the curtains on military preparations for the most dangerous stage of all: the war in Iraq. The film opens with what appears to be a deadly ambush of a U.S. military patrol in Iraq. In fact, it is one... [More]
Genre: Education/General Interest
Reviews
A keenly insightful film concerning an unusual training program for war-bound U.S. soldiers.
08/08/08
this is such small stakes compared to the real war that the film can't help but feel equally unimportant.
07/30/08
If you thought Disneyland was fun, take a trip to this complete simulated Iraqi village in California, and learn how the other half live. And die.
07/27/08
This increasingly complicated scenario isn't scripted, peace is far from guaranteed and the line between reality and its incredible simulation has a funny way of getting blurry.
07/11/08
On one level, Full Battle Rattle is enjoyable for the theatrics ... On a second level ... is appreciable for what it says about the U.S. military's involvement in Iraq.
07/11/08
In Full Battle Rattle, the Iraq Simulation and the war are both real and not real, confusing, painful, and horrific, for the refugees working as role players.
07/11/08
Full Battle Rattle works just fine as a two-fisted combat story, with unexpected bursts of violence peppering that old universal message that war is hell. But the added layer of pretense pushes the movie to another level.
07/10/08
One of the many surreal aspects of this fabulously disorienting movie: its representation of an Iraqi heaven that's an American hell.
07/10/08
Top Critic
Just when I thought I had heard everything about the war in Iraq, along comes Full Battle Rattle.
07/09/08
Top Critic
This documentary gives a remarkably thorough and detailed account of the difficult conditions facing American soldiers in Iraq.
07/09/08
Top Critic
No one expected a Baudrillard essay on the perils of sim cities, but such a heady subject deserves more than a skim job.
07/09/08
While you may wish the filmmakers had included fewer scenic shots of the sun setting over California’s high desert and instead played devil's advocate more often, the impact of Full Battle Rattle stems from its political and ideological neutrality.
07/09/08
The movie fails to become a document of our time and settles for the dopey synthetic version instead.
07/09/08
The more the players throw themselves into their roles, the more the viewer is slowly drawn in.
07/08/08
Documentary about a billion dollar military training center that simulates Iraqi villages in the middle of the Mohave Desert. About as much of a testimony to the folly of man as the Tower of Babel.
07/08/08
Worthwhile for bringing these war games to light, but the filmmakers probably could have cut together their footage with narration and graphics to make it more interesting.
07/08/08
Related Forums
(2008/Docu)-FULL BATTLE RATTLE gets its USA Theatrical Premiere on July 9th!!!
by: ReelReviewer.com 7/25
by: ReelReviewer.com 7/25
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