Through a Lens, Grimly

In 2004, Stephen Pink, Michael Moriarty and Zack Bazzi, all members of the New Hampshire National Guard, were given video cameras to take with them while they trained for and eventually deployed to Iraq. "The War Tapes" is the edited version of the footage they shot, with contributions from fellow soldiers Duncan Domey and Brandon Wilkins. (See related story on Page 33.) With no narration except from the men themselves, "The War Tapes" offers an unvarnished, un-spun and finally deeply depressing portrait of men who for a variety of reasons -- patriotic, economic or psychological -- enlist to be citizen soldiers, only to have their idealism and longing replaced by cynicism and a host of physical and mental ailments.

Pink enlisted in the Guard to pay for college; Moriarty because he was motivated by the events of Sept. 11, 2001; and Bazzi, who had already served in the U.S. Army, because he loves to travel. All three undergo profound changes in Iraq, documented not only in the videos they shoot but in the e-mails they send home (Pink leaves behind a girlfriend, Moriarty a wife and Bazzi a mother). And all three witness -- and allow filmgoers to witness -- unspeakable violence, cruelty and death, serving on the base in the Sunni Triangle that is nicknamed "Mortaritaville" for the number of insurgent attacks it sustains on a regular basis.

Make no mistake: "The War Tapes" is not an overtly political film. It appears to grind no partisan ax nor score either red or blue points. Whether viewers support the war or not -- or find themselves somewhere in the mushy middle -- this documentary won't fit comfortably into the pigeonholes of their preconceptions. What it does do, with grim and often gruesome honesty, is show the realities of war to a public that has been largely shielded from its cost.

-- Ann Hornaday

The War Tapes Unrated, 97 minutes Contains pervasive, strong profanity and graphic scenes of war-related violence, injuries and death. At Landmark's E Street Cinema.