Green Zone - Review

The Bourne series caught my attention and coming together of the director and actor once again was an interesting proposition. It was also a bit of curiosity that led me to watch this movie. Paul Greengrass who seemed to be a master at entertaining thrillers was this time toying with real life. The film credits Rajiv Chandrashekharan’s book (non-fiction) – Imperial Life in the Emerald City for inspiration. The book documented a journalist’s perspective of the life in Baghdad. Inspite of the ‘work of fiction’ disclaimer, several reviewers have spotted the real-life counterparts of most of the key characters in the movie. The Green zone is a 10 square kilometres area in the city of Baghdad that was the centre of all the International operations post the Iraqi invasion in 2003. Previously the seat of the Ba’ath party and Saddam Hussein’s palaces, after the American occupation it was used as offices for the coalition forces. After the handover it is back into the hands of the Iraqi Government and houses the various embassies.

Matt Damon plays Roy Miller, a Chief Warrant Officer in the Special Forces of the US Army. The year is 2003, 4 weeks after the invasion. Miller and his team are in charge of finding WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction). When several attempts prove futile, Miller doubts the source of intelligence which is soon disregarded by senior officers in the army and the Pentagon. He finds an ally in Brown (Brendan Gleeson) from the CIA who shares his doubts. Clarke Poundstone (Greg Kinnear) the Pentagon’s man in Iraq is busy setting the stage for the new government and planting stories in the media through journalist Lawrie Dane (Amy Ryan) from the Wall Street Journal. Adding to the drama is Al-Rawi (Yigal Naor), a General from Saddam’s regime, waiting to strike a deal with the Americans and Freddie (Khaled Abdalla), a translator picked up by Miller during his quest for the truth. Damon looks the part of an army officer and takes the film on his shoulders. As Gleesen, Kinnear, Naor and Amy Ryan do absolute justice to their roles, it is Khaled Abdalla of Kite Runner fame who strikes a chord. He stands apart as the representative of the Iraqi common man, a citizen having to deal with his country being torn apart by his rulers and strangers alike. The cinematography in handy cam style is realistic, but at times too shaky to hold attention, especially towards the chase in the end. One can’t help but wonder why Miller doesn’t seem to have a boss. He chases his clues with no intervention from the army, as if set on a personal mission. It is at this point we see it departing from reality.


A peep into the WMD conspiracy, the film definitely points fingers at the inefficiency o f the coalition forces and the twisted intelligence reports. The inability of the US government to deal with the post invasion Iraq and the lack of understanding of the local political texture is dealt with in the background. That is precisely the reason why the theme deserves more credit than other movies like ‘The Hurt Locker’. Having said that, the film remains purely fictional. The main idea of the movie being entertainment, after a point it takes the form of a high voltage thriller, thus compromising the credibility of the issue. It is Greengrass’ and Brien Helgeland’s (writer) take on the story of Roy Miller, presented to us in the most dramatic and entertaining manner. A racy and exciting watch, harmless if not taken too seriously. Best seen in the theatres.