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Occupation: Dreamland documentary

Pro reviews

Original title: Occupation: Dreamland
Year: 2005
Running time: 78 min.
Country: United States
Director: Ian Olds, Garrett Scott
Cast: Documentary
Cinematography: Ian Olds
Producer: GreenHouse Pictures
Genre: Documentary. War | Iraq War
Synopsis: In January, 2004, in Al-Falluja, Iraq, a documentary film crew follows an infantry squad of the 82nd Airborne, US Army. Cameras accompany the squad of seven on day and night patrols, as they watch their backs, kick down doors, search for weapons, interrogate women, detain a few people, and listen to the complaints of locals. At their barracks, a former Baathist retreat called Dreamland, the men talk: about why they enlisted, civilian prospects, feelings about the war and Iraqis, where they were when a comrade died a few weeks before. We see them wait for translators and try a few words of Arabic; we hear their frustrations. We watch them pressured to reenlist. Tensions mount in Falluja.

Awards: 2005: Independent Spirit Awards: Truer Than Fiction Award

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Critics' reviews

"Has an intimate, personal quality. Rather than showboating for the camera, the soldiers get to a deeper level, conveying a surprisingly reflective and aware sensibility."

Kenneth Turan: Los Angeles Times
"Straightforward and immensely powerful, the movie offers a blunt assessment of the war from soldiers currently fighting it, and their perspective is not pretty."

Elizabeth Weitzman: New York Daily News
"A powerful documentary about a squad of Army grunts patrolling the Iraqi city of Fallujah in late 2004."

Scott Tobias: AV Club
"A fair-minded (but hardly apolitical) grunt's-eye view of the war in Iraq that trusts the audience to draw its own conclusions."

Joshua Land: Village Voice
"'Occupation: Dreamland' presents a compelling study of composure and decency in the midst of overwhelming pointlessness."

Jeannette Catsoulis: The New York Times

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