Iraq: Hollywood piles on

LOS ANGELES (AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE) — Encouraged by widespread opposition to the conflict in Iraq, Hollywood filmmakers are preparing to unleash an unprecedented wave of war films on moviegoers. In a notable break with the past — when antiwar films were released several years after the conflict in question — a whole new genre has been created even while American troops remain on the front lines of the war on terror.

“In the Valley of Elah,” a gritty drama from Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis (“Crash”) about the murder of an Iraq war veteran, signals the start of the onslaught. It is slated for release next month in the U.S.

The film is one of several that will test the willingness of moviegoers to embrace dramas about sensitive subjects such as post-September 11 security and the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Several upcoming films will follow the plight of Iraq war veterans. After “In the Valley of Elah,” “Grace Is Gone” (which stars John Cusack and earned glowing reviews at the Sundance Film Festival) is due for release in October.

The movie tells the story of a man whose wife is killed during service in Iraq and the challenges his family faces in the aftermath. Mr. Cusack has said his desire to make the film was born out of anger at the decision by the Pentagon to ban publication of photos showing flag-draped coffins returning from battlefields.

“I feel that people will be interested in seeing the story of the human cost of this war. Not just in terms of the soldiers fighting, but the civilian leadership,” Mr. Cusack says.

Other films on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the broader issues of post-September 11 security include the Robert Redford-directed “Lions for Lambs,” starring Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep and set for a November release; Brian De Palma’s “Redacted”; and Gavin Hood’s “Rendition.”

“Rendition” stars Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon as the wife of an Egyptian-born chemical engineer who is arrested without charge and whisked off to a secret detention facility to be quizzed by the CIA.

The spate of films will continue through 2008, with Kimberly Peirce’s “Stop Loss,” about a veteran who refuses to return to Iraq (due out in March) as well as “The Hurt Locker,” which recently began filming in Jordan and Iraq.

Darrell West, an expert in politics and the mass media at Brown University, says the spate of films is a reflection of widespread unpopularity with the war in Iraq.

“Antiwar movies are coming out now because public opinion has crystallized against the war,” Mr. West says.

“It’s safe for Hollywood to make these kind of movies without risking much of a backlash. There’s always a risk when you make an antiwar movie in the middle of the war that people are going to be ticked off,” he says. “But now, with two-thirds of Americans thinking that the war in Iraq was a mistake, it’s the perfect time to release these kinds of movies.

“There’s been a tremendous change in American public opinion over the last two years. In 2004, Bush was re-elected based on the war on terrorism, but now the administration is seen as having mangled foreign policy and put the country into a mess. So it’s safe to take on the administration in a way that it would not have been two or three years ago.”

Mark Boal, who wrote the script for “The Hurt Locker,” says films can present a view of the Iraq war not found in other mainstream media.

“We wanted to show the kinds of things that soldiers go through that you can’t see on CNN, and I don’t mean that in a censorship-conspiracy way,” he told the Hollywood Reporter.

“I just mean the news doesn’t actually put photographers in with units that are this elite.”

Although the Vietnam War spawned a series of classic films, including “Apocalypse Now,” “The Deer Hunter” and “Platoon,” they did not appear until years after the end of the 1975 conflict.

Lew Harris, editor of Movies.com, attributes the fact that films about Iraq are being released while the war is raging to a more politicized Hollywood.

“Hollywood’s much more political now and less afraid to speak out,” Mr. Harris says. “The filmmakers and actors themselves are far more politicized than they were in the 1960s.”

However, he warns that the success of the films ultimately will hinge on their ability to entertain.

“I think if it’s good entertainment and the actors are good, then they will be successful,” Mr. Harris says.

“But if a film looks like something where the audience is going to be hit on the head with messages, then they won’t.”