BAGnewsNotes

Chris Hondros on "The Hurt Locker"

Given the rave reviews this film is receiving, the fact that a film can be largely responsible for the picture of a conflict people walk away with in their mind's eye, and because Chris Hondros, having made twelve trips to Iraq in covering the war, is one of America's most respected and highly praised photojournalists, BNN is pleased to offer this review.

8 July 2009

I’ve been waiting for a truly great movie about the Iraq War. I know it’s still going on, but don’t think it’s impossible to ask for one: Casablanca came out right in the middle of World War II in 1942, for instance, and M*A*S*H, with its Korea-as-Vietnam theme, was released in 1970. The issue is important to me, since like many journalists who have frequented Iraq I’ve often been frustrated by the public’s lack of engagement in the conflict, and have thought for some time that a thoughtful, tone-perfect movie could help explain to a general audience what the experience of being in Iraq was (and is) like.

It seemed that The Hurt Locker, recently released to positive reviews and much acclaim, could be that movie. But having seen it I don’t think The Hurt Locker will do for the Iraq War what, say, Apocalypse Now or Platoon did for our understanding of Vietnam.   It might be the best Iraq movie out so far, but that’s not saying much. To me The Hurt Locker fell flat--partly because the soldiers behave in implausible ways throughout, but mostly because I don’t think it offers us a coherent plot or deep character development, the stuff all great movies (as far as I’m concerned, at least) share in their DNA.

The Hurt Locker tells the story of an Army bomb-defusing trio based out of the sprawling Camp Victory just outside Baghdad, on the last month of their deployment. The team is (reluctantly) led by a reckless a staff sergeant explosives expert named William James (played with indisputable talent by Jeremy Renner). His support duo is a risk-averse sergeant named J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and a young specialist, Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty).

The movie gets off to a good start; it was clear to me from the opening scene that the superficial details about the Iraq environment look just right, more so than any Iraq movie previously. The Army uniforms and Iraqi style of dress, for instance, are perfect, and the Humvees look just like they did in 2004, when the movie is set. Camp Victory, Baghdad's largest base, looks in the movie just like it really does: a bleak gravel plain covered in soulless white barracks trailers. The physical look is fantastic.

But it isn’t long before the movie gets mired down in absurd and seemingly pointless misadventures.

Your Turn: Vatican Pomp and (This) Circumstance

After days and days of ceremonial photo-ops from Russia, the ultimately not-very-substantive G-8 summit, and today, the Obama visit to the Vatican, I think this image -- courtesy of Sasha or Malia, I can't tell which -- actually seems like a nice editorial comment, if not just a breath of fresh air.

(image: Franco Iriglia/Getty Images. h/t: NYT Lens blog. caption: First Lady Michelle Obama leaving the Vatican after meeting Pope Benedict XVI with the President)

Reuters Confuses Obama With Berlusconi

Call it further signs of the media swoon....

Reuters distributes this shot which, from the way everyone is caught in the moment, seems to capture Obama ogling, or at least gamely distracted by this junior G-8 delegate (set up by the notorious Sarkozy seeming to also look on lecherously). Of course, the context is reinforced by the fact host Berlusconi has scandalized Italy, and the conference, with his exploitation of various Italian girls. (If you've seen a collection of conference photos, you'll also see how most of the female aides, photographed sprinkled among the attendees, look like fashion models. (1, 2.)

Of course, this is dangerous territory for the visual media, this photo unavoidably repeating certain racist themes of the presidential contest -- in this case, the stereotype of Obama (1, 2) and the African-American man as hyper-sexual and instinctually drawn to the white woman. (In this case, the "pull" is heightened by a young black woman behind Obama, as well as "in between").

I can't tell how much it's the Berlusconi factor, the media's current "MJ-ization," and/or a new sense of entitlement to chip away at Obama now that he, and the enduring pain of the recession, are settling in, but if anybody is taking liberty here, it's the wire service.

---

Update 10 am PST - Photographer Tim Fadek just forwarded me this video from ABC regarding the photo. The video gives a completely different impression, one that reinforces Obama's character as a class act ... while reinforcing Sarkozy as a lech. What the video shows is Obama in the process of looking back and offering the young black woman a hand stepping off the the steep riser. Sarkozy, on the other hand, is shown looking, then looking around Obama to ogle the girl in red.

By the way, there's some good conversation going in the discussion thread about the dynamics of reading/reading into such a still.

Update 2 11:10 am PST -- Seems there's some question, at least in the discussion at PDN, about whether it's fair to tie in the "race" factor. In my mind, at least, it becomes a lot more germane when someone like Drudge chases it (not to mention, tying it to Obama's "stimulus.")

(image: Jason Reed/Reuters. caption: U.S. President Barack Obama (C) and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (R) take their places with junior G8 delegates, including Brazil's Mayora Tavares (L), for a family photo at the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy July 9, 2009. Leaders of the Group of Eight major industrial nations and the main developing economies are meeting in the central Italian city of L'Aquila until Friday to discuss issues ranging from global economic stimulus to climate change and oil prices.)

Iran Again: New Pictures ... And Echoes

I'm going through the new and sudden burst of images from today's Tehran unrest. Tell me this doesn't resonate because the woman/the photo evokes Neda Agha-Soltan, the woman and martyr of the contested-election demonstrations who died with her eyes open?

...In this photo from Turkey, we see that the analogy and the identification is more than incidental.

(image: labeled "Getty Images."caption: An Iranian woman holds her hands in the air and makes V signs as she protests in the streets on July 9, 2009 in Tehran, Iran. Following the recently disputed presidential elections demonstrators were met by force and tear gas rounds fired by Iranian police and Basij as they defyied government warnings to stage a march in commeration of the anniversary of bloody student unrest in 1999 at Tehran University.)

The Third Crusade

by contributer John Lucaites

The “Summer Surge” has begun in Afghanistan, though more with a whimper than a bang if we measure it in terms of media attention. The death toll creeps higher each day, but one has to search hard to find any mention of it. The stories that do appear on a war that is now eight years old (and counting) tend not to be headline fare in most U.S. news outlets, and those stories that do appear exude something of an everyday, taken-for-granted quality about the whole matter.

While news stories seem lacking, there have nevertheless been a small number of slide shows cropping up at various news outlets (here and here, for example) over the past several weeks.

What marks these slide shows is their almost singular banality as they repeat over and again the same, tired, visual clichés for representing war that we have become accustomed to in recent times: tight close-ups of marines—in many cases young boys trying to appear like hardened veterans—expressing intense and stern determination; images of U.S. troops preparing to do battle or returning from battle or approaching and searching what appear to be empty villages or fighting the boredom of war or playing games with local children; photographs that feature the advanced technology of U.S. warfare, including weaponry, night vision capabilities, and so on.

Rarely and only occasionally do we see some actual fighting—and perhaps for good reasons—but on the whole what we are shown are stock pictures we have seen before and but for the fact that they emphasize a desert locale, there is nothing particularly distinctive about them. In short, there would appear to be no news here.

L'Aquila: The Woe Summit

Or is that, whew!

With all the hype, distraction and showmanship inflicted on poor earthquake ravaged L'Aquila, Wednesday's stroll by G-8 summiteers comes off no better than disaster tourism. (And then, all hail the dramatic and fun-loving Berlusconi.)

Tent city that awaits the G8 (The Independent)

(image: Jim Young/Reuters. The ruined city of Onna near L'Aquila, central Italy, July 8, 2009. Onna was almost totally destroyed in the April 6, 2009 earthquake in which some 300 people died.)

Obama You're Not, Sir!

I absolutely couldn't resist this. To appreciate the hilarity, read the backstory at The Lede.

(Is it possible Ahmadinejad -- with help from the bug -- may have done to himself what it took someone like Ferrell to do to Bush early on?)

Obama - Putin Not in Love!

Apparently prompted by the eager Condi Rice (see paragraph 22), Dubya convinced himself before they had even met that Putin would become a best friend for life.

Of course, the quote from the first engagement at the Slovenian Summit in June of '01 at the Brdo Castle in Slovenia is famous by now:

"I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. "I was able to get a sense of his soul. "

It was in that very first meeting Bush decided Putin had to come down to the ranch, leading to an intimate three day visit which included that famous pickup truck ride.

But that was then and this is now. This week, we saw a return to a more unremarkable get-acquainted process marked by the mundane realities of healthy distance; feeling other people other out; and, yes, skepticism for gamesmanship and power-tripping. Perhaps that's why, as the NYT reported, Obama slipped not once, but twice, in referring to Putin, the enduring heavy in Russia, as (still) the country's President.

The image above -- one of dozens and dozens, I might add, that captures Bush and Putin (only too happy to indulge Bush's fantasy) in an intimate grip -- is the parting photo from that first Slovenia summit. The second image, as Obama engages the hard-nosed Putin, captures Barack at Putin's dacha outside Moscow doing what Bush never did, which was start by breaking the ice.

(revised 4:20 pm PST)

(image 1: George Herbert/A.P. IMAGE 2: Novo-Ogarevo, July 7, 2009. ALEXEY DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images. linked pickup image: Crawford, Texas, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2001. Either AP Photo/Doug Mills or REUTERS/Win McNamee.)

Our Man in Xinjiang

BAGnewsNotes contributer Alan Chin, who has been in China for the past month, filed these photos and brief report this afternoon on the ethnic violence in Xinjiang.

Urumqi, Xinjiang, China

7/7/09 AM

I caught up with a government press tour this morning at the same time a group of several hundred Uighur women were protesting against their men being detained. It was a tense scene with the women screaming and yelling and the police deploying in force. It seemed to disperse peacefully but it was unclear what would happen next as we were herded away.

The amount of property damage and destroyed vehicles seems very small compared to the government claim of 150+ dead and 800+ wounded. Of course there may be worse areas that I haven't been able to access. But compared to aftermath of other riots (with much less loss of life), the destruction here seems slight.

Saw some young men being searched and ID'd outside Xinjiang University where there were apparently many arrests.

7/7/09 PM

The sense of almost-normalcy disappeared by afternoon as thousands of Han Chinese with metal and wood sticks and clubs headed to attack the Uighur neighborhood.

I could only get as far as the edge of the Muslim Quarter where the PAP and police turned the crowd pack with tear gas, truncheons, and somewhat friendly entreaties to go home. General Secretary of the Urumqi Communist Party Li Zhi spoke with a loudspeaker to the mob standing on top of a SUV, blaming the crisis on exiled Uighur activists and stressing Chinese unity.

Some of the crowd had gotten into the Uighur area before though; unknown how much damage they were able to cause before police dealt with them. I did not see police arrest or disarm anybody; they just wanted to disperse the crowd.

What was odd about the crowd was that it included young women as well as young men, brandishing makeshift weapons.

Don't know what tomorrow will be like; night curfew is about to start soon.
(images: Alan Chin 2009, Xinjiang, China. See photo gallery for captions.)

Rummy Having McNamara For Breakfast

Upon his passing on Monday, I took something of a forensic interest in this photo from the NYT's Robert McNamara slideshow. It pictures the former Defense Secretary with Rumsfeld, then currently in the job, as well as former Secretaries Carlucci and Brzezinski.

Unfortunately, reference to the gathering is pretty slight, while the caption only names the players along with the date of 2003.

Given that the Iraq War began in March of that year and the powerful documentary, The Fog of War (in which McNamara expresses deep regret for his stewardship of the Vietnam War), was released in December, my sense, on first pass, was to question the comity here between McNamara and Rumsfeld.

But then, there are all kinds of other factors to consider, including the ritual of such ceremonial get togethers -- Rumsfeld, the practiced politician, likely appealing to vanity to solicit advice he then wouldn't heed. As well, we also know from his appearance with Director Errol Morris in Berkeley in '04 that McNamara refused to apply his lessons about war to the invasion of Iraq even if he welcomed others to do so.

Taken together, these facts suggest that fraternity goes a long way at the pinnacle of the warrior class.

(image: Stephen Crowley/NYT)

The Michael Jackson Death Show

As an industry town preparing for a memorial service the likes L.A. has never seen (hello Larry! Anderson! Charles! Katie!), it's hard to consider this giddy and buzzing city as anything but a parody of itself.

These wry and simple wire photos intentionally play-off the escalating intensity of tomorrow's mass-scale, Laker-championship-emulating public memorial service at Staples Arena preceded by an expected news helicopter-gawking, freeway-arresting mobile procession/slow-motion media cavalcade (potentially, yes, one-part unspoken O.J. reminder mixed with a dash of the RFK train) from the cemetery to downtown.

As the MJ passing "pushes into its second week," the first image offers up members of the media -- looking like acting extras themselves -- converting Forest Lawn into the likes of a movie set four-full-days before the anticipated memorial service. (And, it's the Fourth of July, no less.)

Here, the taped outline for a TV truck just beyond the mortuary gates seems to evoke a burial plot or the markings at a crime scene.

Perhaps celebrity culture is what's also killing us.

(Revised: 8:26 am PST)

(image 1: Robyn Beck/Getty Images. Forest Lawn cemetery. Los Angeles. July 4, 2009. Although details of the July 7 memorial service for music legend Michael Jackson have yet to be released, some reports say Jackson's family may hold a service at the Forest Lawn Mortuary then motorcade to Staples Center. image 2: Eric Thayer/Reuters. A Forest Lawn cemetery. Los Angeles July 3, 2009. caption: Although details of Tuesday's memorial service have yet to be unveiled, Los Angeles media said Michael Jackson's family may hold a service at the Forest Lawn Mortuary then motorcade to Staples Center.)

Palin's Resignation: Proud To Be Trash

This photo was circulated by Getty after Palin was tabbed for Veep by McCain and appeared, at least, in a cheeseball LAT election slideshow on Palin's fashion sense. If you haven't seen it before, however, it's because the image, like Palin herself, is radioactive.

Although taken back in '04 (see caption below), the statement is significant today for revealing an attitude (along with the adorable love 'ya/just shot 'ya) that, upon her resignation from elected office, now morphs into a full-blown strategy. Palin has created a scenario, at least in her mind, in which she's defeated the press and can freely Facebook and speak obliquely with and to her equally angry and alienated true constituency.

Simply, she's positioned herself to reconnect, with the same invective, to the haters and fanatics she was inciting during the campaign.

(image: Robert A. Baker/Getty Images. Sarah Palin models purchased 'Proud to be Valley Trash' t-shirt as the result of State Senator Ben Stevens (son of Ted Stevens) comments that people living in the Mat-Su Borough are 'just Valley trash' July 21, 2004 in Wasilla, Alaska. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate at a campaign rally August 29, 2008 in Dayton, Ohio.)