Green zone, 2010

Green zone, 2010
Director: Paul Greengrass (Bourne Identity)
Cast: Yigal Naor, Matt Damon, Nicoye Banks


Green Zone in short: Discovering covert and faulty intelligence causes a U.S. Army officer to go rogue as he hunts for Weapons of Mass Destruction in an unstable region.

Stage: local cinema/colloseum

Preps: None. I haven't got a clue what a friend of mine got me to see in the movies. Since I am a big movie fan and usually we share the taste, I don't mind going blind folded in the movies.


Reality: I am thoroughly surprised. Since seeing The hurt locker lately I am yet again not convinced in the war movie genre. They really hurt my ROM, I guess, trying to figure out what the hell drives men to run around with weapons and hurt each other on the battle field. And not even being LOTR or some other sci-fi. A bit of irony there, since I have trained martial arts for a very long time. However, I do understand the combat rules, I don't understand wars. The hurt locker proved it to me one more time and the sigh of dissatisfaction runs through me as I figure this one is a war movie too.

However, it is a good one. A bit american-ish, especially in the end, but a splendid piece, compared to the hurt locker. Or Saving Private Ryan (my god, Hanks really isn't talented for war movies, let him dispair in some romantic dramas as he is used to them) or some similar wrecks in my opinion. Or some others in that genre. Matt Damon plays superb hero that disobeys the rules. Very unreal in real life in my opinion, but still I like it. It's not really in soldier's nature to disobey the rules, since they are fit to their skin and burned in their soul while they are doing their job. And precisely not to question commands, not to ask yourself why do this and that, why kill someone or not. Basic soldier training is broken here and questions like "why are we even fighting" are asked. "This is the reason we're here", referring to seek of the atomic weapons, and with it, the viewer knows it's a big lie.

You lose the hunt in some chases shown, but overall, you feel like there's a lot of action going on. The subtile story about the purpose of having americans in Iraq is quite visible and transparent. The action seems real. The reality of having mutiny in armed forces is not believable, but the second level reception of intel (the data that they received and they showed on) is.

I think even the female population might enjoy it a lot. If not for other reasons, for the empathy for the population in Iraq, nonsense that the war poses and yess, the Matt Damon in his charms.


My personal rate: 8,5



One of my favourite quotes in the movie: "You will not decide what happens to this country"; Freddy to Miller, when Miller gives him hard time about killing the haunted criminal



Green zone on IMDB
Official sites
yummy Matt Damon pics