Members of an elite demining squad are sent to a city in Iraq, where almost every object poses a deadly danger. James is a bomb disposal expert who, despite the danger, treats bomb disposal like a game.
War is his real passion. It is because of this that his squad begins to have disagreements.
4k movies reviews
I can’t believe my eyes. The best film, the best director… And a whole LOT more of native American and over-the-top European pie. Personally, I (and many others, I think) watched this movie as a passable one, even seeming to skip some parts. Yes, there are, I don’t argue, some parts that are decent. There is tension in places. There’s a suicide bomber strapped with explosives… But there are bloopers as well, and absolutely unforgivable. Especially for a movie that has won so many Oscars. Why, one may ask, do the terrorists stand and wait while the Americans defuse their bombs. Do they want to see if they succeed or not? Their goal is an explosion that (judging by the amount of explosives) will successfully cover all the American occupiers, frantically swarming in the immediate vicinity of the supposed epicenter. And they (the terrorists), instead of pushing the button, stand around and… what? Cheering for their own people? But they are not at a soccer game…
The film itself is lukewarm. Even in spite of the refrain ‘we’re all going to die here’.
Where did it get so many awards? Why six Oscars, six British Academy Awards and five Venice Lions? Why all the tears in his eyes and the applause that turns into a standing ovation? The answer is obvious to everyone except… No, it can’t be that Americans don’t get it, too! From Uncle Sam. A big, drunk on Iraqi oil and full of cannon fodder, Uncle Sam wants to look good after such a lavish meal. “Commissioned by Gosteletradio,” remember the intro? Well, the American Union of Oil Producers, in cooperation with the White House corp. create such masterpieces of cinema, and then, by order of the same persons, other specially invited comrades give these masterpieces a lot of Oscars and other beautiful statuettes. (At least they left the special effects to Avatar, or they could have taken it away in a burst of official zeal).
You can, of course, object, saying that the movie is not about Uncle Sam, but about the American guy, who was thrown into this meat grinder… Yes, of course. But here, mind you, psychology comes into play: justify the military, and then the war itself will be justified indirectly, because you can’t do a dirty deed with a clear conscience. You pity the good guys, and you’re forced to take their side against those who are trying to defend their homeland. Especially since they do it in ways that are unacceptable to human morality. And if it is clear where our people are, then it is not so important what started the whole mess. Especially since the film shows not the punishers, not the artillery and aviation, lopping up everything and everyone, and certainly not (scary to think of it) the Abu Ghraib prisoners, but the bomb squad, the people who really are constantly setting themselves up for others. So the viewer involuntarily gets the impression that such guys (and such troops) are the only ones who make up the entire American military contingent in Iraq.
Actually, not all of them, of course, but many of the recipes for the kitchen called ‘Universal PR’ are well illustrated in Barry Levinson’s Wag the Dog (1997). It was so good that not a single notable film on the subject has appeared in Hollywood since then. And it is unlikely that they ever will. After all, ‘The Rascal’ (by the way!) never won (though it was nominated) an Oscar or a British Academy Award.
Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (74.3 Mb/s)
Resolution: Upscaled 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio
English: Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Subtitles
English, English SDH, Spanish.
