thedrifter
06-01-09, 07:42 AM
MILITARY: Film chronicles Marine experience in Fallujah and Najaf battles
By MARK WALKER - mlwalker@nctimes.com
CAMP PENDLETON ---- War from the perspective of Marines and soldiers who fought three major battles in Iraq is told in stark terms in a film the producer says attempts to put the audience in the shoes of the troops.
"The Last 600 Meters" tells the story of the troops' experiences in the 2004 battles for the cities of Najaf and Fallujah that pitted Marine and Army forces against heavily armed and entrenched insurgent forces.
A screening hosted last week by Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly was presented to more than 100 Marine officers and senior enlisted men and women, many of whom later praised the 90-minute film for letting the men who fought the battles tell the story without any narrator.
"I'm very impressed with it," said Kelly, who commanded the base's I Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq in 2008 and served two earlier tours leading combat troops in the country's Anbar province. "It puts the light on the Marines and sailors, who we are and what we did."
Produced by veteran filmmaker Michael Pack, the film won a Founder's Choice Award at the 2008 G.I. Film Festival in Washington. Pack is screening the movie around the country right now in hopes of securing funding for a theater release. He also is in talks with the Public Broadcasting System to air the film.
Pack told the assembled Marines at Thursday's screening that he decided to rely on footage shot by combat camera photographers and recollections of the men involved in the fighting without any narration. He also opted not to include any perspective from Iraqis.
"We decided to stick with the Army and Marine Corps' points of view," he said. "We thought about including them, but decided it would have been tough to get a balance given the time constraints of the show."
Executive producer Stephen Bannon said the film provides a unique window into how the war was waged.
"We want the audience to put themselves in the role of the enlisted men and junior officers that did the fighting and made all these critical decisions," Bannon said.
The first battle of Fallujah took place in April 2004 after the deaths of a Blackwater Security team whose burned bodies were strung from a bridge.
As Marine forces from Camp Pendleton, along with Army troops, neared the center of the city after weeks of fighting, the Iraqi government struck a deal with the U.S. calling for the troops' withdrawal and turning Fallujah over to a local security force.
That force allowed the insurgency to re-arm. The Marines would return seven months later in what would ultimately be the largest urban warfare for U.S. troops since the battle for Hue City during the Vietnam War.
An Army special forces sniper who took part in the Fallujah fight provides the title for the film.
"When it comes to foreign policy, I don't make it ---- I just deliver the last 600 meters of it," the soldier says.
The fight in Najaf took place around one of the largest cemeteries in the world and pitted Shiite militia fighters against U.S. troops. The city was controlled by rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who hid his forces for much of the time inside the Imam Ali Mosque, one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines.
The Marines and coalition troops were forbidden by the Bush administration from attacking the mosque, but used precision weaponry to deliver attacks to within feet of the mosque. As they pushed the insurgents to the edge of the mosque, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani agreed to take over the city and mosque, leading to a cessation of that fight.
Fallujah in November 2004 would be the watershed battle in Iraq for the Marine Corps.
After some 270,000 residents evacuated, an insurgent force estimated at around 3,500 battled Iraqi, British and U.S. forces, including numerous Camp Pendleton units.
"We felt it was the worst place in the world," then-1st Lt. Jesse Grapes of Camp Pendleton tells the filmmakers. "It was the center of the Sunni insurgency and we all wanted to go there. We wanted to know when we were going to go there and take care of business."
After nine days of fierce and bloody house-to-house fighting, the battle ended with the insurgents defeated. Several Camp Pendleton Marines were later honored with awards, including two who received Navy Cross citations for valor.
The only levity during the film comes when a young Marine corporal tells how a squadmate slipped into a room during a house search and dressed as an Iraqi fighter ---- startling his squadmates when he re-entered the area where they were ---- and almost got shot.
"I guess he just wasn't a very deep thinker," the corporal tells the camera.
Call staff writer Mark Walker at 760-740-3529.
Ellie
By MARK WALKER - mlwalker@nctimes.com
CAMP PENDLETON ---- War from the perspective of Marines and soldiers who fought three major battles in Iraq is told in stark terms in a film the producer says attempts to put the audience in the shoes of the troops.
"The Last 600 Meters" tells the story of the troops' experiences in the 2004 battles for the cities of Najaf and Fallujah that pitted Marine and Army forces against heavily armed and entrenched insurgent forces.
A screening hosted last week by Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly was presented to more than 100 Marine officers and senior enlisted men and women, many of whom later praised the 90-minute film for letting the men who fought the battles tell the story without any narrator.
"I'm very impressed with it," said Kelly, who commanded the base's I Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq in 2008 and served two earlier tours leading combat troops in the country's Anbar province. "It puts the light on the Marines and sailors, who we are and what we did."
Produced by veteran filmmaker Michael Pack, the film won a Founder's Choice Award at the 2008 G.I. Film Festival in Washington. Pack is screening the movie around the country right now in hopes of securing funding for a theater release. He also is in talks with the Public Broadcasting System to air the film.
Pack told the assembled Marines at Thursday's screening that he decided to rely on footage shot by combat camera photographers and recollections of the men involved in the fighting without any narration. He also opted not to include any perspective from Iraqis.
"We decided to stick with the Army and Marine Corps' points of view," he said. "We thought about including them, but decided it would have been tough to get a balance given the time constraints of the show."
Executive producer Stephen Bannon said the film provides a unique window into how the war was waged.
"We want the audience to put themselves in the role of the enlisted men and junior officers that did the fighting and made all these critical decisions," Bannon said.
The first battle of Fallujah took place in April 2004 after the deaths of a Blackwater Security team whose burned bodies were strung from a bridge.
As Marine forces from Camp Pendleton, along with Army troops, neared the center of the city after weeks of fighting, the Iraqi government struck a deal with the U.S. calling for the troops' withdrawal and turning Fallujah over to a local security force.
That force allowed the insurgency to re-arm. The Marines would return seven months later in what would ultimately be the largest urban warfare for U.S. troops since the battle for Hue City during the Vietnam War.
An Army special forces sniper who took part in the Fallujah fight provides the title for the film.
"When it comes to foreign policy, I don't make it ---- I just deliver the last 600 meters of it," the soldier says.
The fight in Najaf took place around one of the largest cemeteries in the world and pitted Shiite militia fighters against U.S. troops. The city was controlled by rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who hid his forces for much of the time inside the Imam Ali Mosque, one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines.
The Marines and coalition troops were forbidden by the Bush administration from attacking the mosque, but used precision weaponry to deliver attacks to within feet of the mosque. As they pushed the insurgents to the edge of the mosque, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani agreed to take over the city and mosque, leading to a cessation of that fight.
Fallujah in November 2004 would be the watershed battle in Iraq for the Marine Corps.
After some 270,000 residents evacuated, an insurgent force estimated at around 3,500 battled Iraqi, British and U.S. forces, including numerous Camp Pendleton units.
"We felt it was the worst place in the world," then-1st Lt. Jesse Grapes of Camp Pendleton tells the filmmakers. "It was the center of the Sunni insurgency and we all wanted to go there. We wanted to know when we were going to go there and take care of business."
After nine days of fierce and bloody house-to-house fighting, the battle ended with the insurgents defeated. Several Camp Pendleton Marines were later honored with awards, including two who received Navy Cross citations for valor.
The only levity during the film comes when a young Marine corporal tells how a squadmate slipped into a room during a house search and dressed as an Iraqi fighter ---- startling his squadmates when he re-entered the area where they were ---- and almost got shot.
"I guess he just wasn't a very deep thinker," the corporal tells the camera.
Call staff writer Mark Walker at 760-740-3529.
Ellie