IN-PERSON EVENT
Q&A with Co-Directors Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss
on Tuesday, July 22 at 8pm

"Without a doubt the most bizarre film to emerge yet from the current Gulf conflict – an entertaining, often very funny, but ultimately revealing and unsettling film."
– Jonathan Romney, Screen International

"Utterly stunning… It would be a sublime satire if it wasn’t horribly true… The deadly serious manner in which
the American soldiers deal with all this nonsense gives rise to some of the greatest and most surreal comedy I’ve seen."
– James Christopher, The Times (London)

THE US MILITARY HAS BUILT A BILLION-DOLLAR MIDDLE EAST VILLAGE IN THE MOJAVE DESERT: A SIMULATED IRAQ, complete with hundreds of Iraqis employed to play civilians and insurgents, terrorist suspects, grieving mothers and innocent shopkeepers. The filmmakers take a smart fly-on-the-wall approach to much of the action, as in-training Army recruits enter “Medina Wasl,” trying to quell uprisings and cajole locales. FULL BATTLE RATTLE observes Army officers explaining local customs to a confused force, under orders to bring “peace and stability” to a place they know nothing about — and one that appears to be disintegrating before their eyes. The movie could be read as a surreal, hilarious goof on the military if the play-acting failures of the troops didn’t look so realistic and if thousands of real lives weren’t on the line halfway around the world.

USA • 2008 • 85 MINUTES • Filmsource Information

Listen to our podcasts:

• Q & A with co-directors Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss (Recorded July 9, 2008)
• Q & A with co-directors Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss (Recorded July 10, 2008)

LINKS:
Official website for the film