By KYLE SMITH
Rating: 
May 7, 2008
THE quasi-documentary "Battle for Haditha" takes a balanced view of Iraqis swept up in the events that resulted in the killings of civilians in Haditha in November 2005. Some were innocent; others were noble insurgents forced to fight by sinister US policies. There is only one kind of Marine in it, though: the kind who loves to shoot innocent people.
This film by Nick Broomfield, which superficially resembles Brian De Palma's "Redacted" in that it is a mockumentary based on real, horrible events, is a 90-minute libel against the Marine Corps. (No one has been convicted of any wrongdoing in the shootout, which resulted after an IED exploded in Haditha and Marines responded to fire from nearby homes. Three Marines are still awaiting trial, while five others have been exonerated.)
The vérité style does give a taste of Iraqi life, but the second half is full of high-fiving, chortling Marines on an intentionally vicious murder spree of obviously unarmed civilians. The evidence is otherwise.
Though the movie uses real Marines as actors, the more feverish the action and dialogue get, the more it sounds like Broomfield hasn't been any closer to a real fighting unit than the last Chuck Norris movie he saw on cable ("Get the motherf - - - ers!" "This is the US Marines, not the
f - - - ing Boy Scouts!"). The film is an exposé only of a filmmaker's senseless contempt for the military.
BATTLE FOR HADITHA
Re-"Redacted."
Running time: 93 minutes. Not rated (war violence, profanity). At the Film Forum, Houston between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street.
