Green Zone

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Movie
German title Green Zone
Original title Green Zone
Country of production USA , France , Spain
original language English
Publishing year 2010
length 115 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
JMK 14
Rod
Director Paul Greengrass
script Brian Helgeland
production Tim Bevan ,
Eric Fellner ,
Lloyd Levin
music John Powell
camera Barry Ackroyd
cut Christopher Rouse
occupation

Green Zone is an American political thriller directed by Paul Greengrass with Matt Damon in the lead role. Based on the award-winning reveal book Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran , a writer and editor at the Washington Post , the film offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Iraq occupation. The title of the film refers to the " Green Zone ", which is a ten square kilometer area in the center of Baghdad that housed the Iraqi interim government .

action

During a bombing of Baghdad on March 19, 2003 in the course of the Third Gulf War , which culminated in Operation Iraqi Freedom , Iraqi General Mohammed Al-Rawi and his men escaped from a safe house away from the main targets of the Allied forces. Al-Rawi then goes to downtown Baghdad. He goes into hiding, meets his vassals and talks to them about the American invasion of Iraq . In view of the chaotic conditions, his command is to wait for a call for help from the Americans. Only in the event that this did not materialize, the fight should be resumed.

Meanwhile, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and his men are investigating a warehouse that is said to be storing weapons of mass destruction according to reports from the American secret service . Like the previous two, the investigation remains unsuccessful. During the debriefing of the operation, Miller expresses his displeasure with the fact that the information that the secret service has made available to him from anonymous sources is largely false and therefore unusable. Martin Brown, a CIA agent and foreign affairs expert in the Middle East , became aware of Miller's statements and confirmed his suspicions.

Meanwhile, Clark Poundstone, the senior US Defense Department official in Iraq, welcomes Iraqi politician Ahmed Zubadi to Baghdad airport . Poundstone is then interviewed by Wall Street Journalist and correspondent Lawrie Dayne. She asks in vain to be able to speak to the secret informant "Magellan", who had provided essential information about the weapons of mass destruction.

While investigating another warehouse, Miller is briefed by an Iraqi named "Freddy", a war invalid from the First Gulf War, of his observation of a high-profile meeting in the immediate vicinity. Al-Rawi narrowly escapes when Miller arbitrarily ordered the storm in question, but is identified. Three of his followers are arrested. Before Miller can interrogate them, US special forces dispatched by Poundstone arrest the prisoners. Miller is only left with the records that he was able to confiscate from a prisoner earlier .

Miller visits Brown in his hotel in the " Green Zone " and informs him about the current events. He hands him the confiscated book that could provide information about Al-Rawi's stay. Brown then organized a permit for Miller to contact the detainee in the prison camp. There the informant (weak and marked by the torture ) says only in a few words that Al-Rawi had done everything that had been agreed "at a meeting". He can only describe the type of meeting with the word "Jordan". In the meantime, Poundstone comes into possession of the book and passes it on to the special forces with orders to kill Al-Rawi. These and Iraqi supporters then begin their hunt for the individual backers of Al-Rawis.

Miller pays a visit to Lawrie Dayne, who, under the pressure of his questions, confesses that her publications on the program of mass destruction rely on the unidentified source "Magellan" without having verified it. According to her, the reports arose after a meeting with "Magellan" in Jordan . With Brown's help, Miller's suspicions that Al-Rawi was the informant who met with Poundstone in Jordan shortly before the war began, are confirmed.

Poundstone orders the entire Iraqi army to be disarmed and disbanded. When Miller tried to meet with Al-Rawi to persuade him to reveal his sensitive information, Miller was arrested by Al-Rawi's men. It turns out that Al-Rawi had already informed Poundstone in Jordan that there was no longer a program to produce weapons of mass destruction. Poundstone had lied to his superiors in Washington about the existence of supposed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in order to politically legitimize an invasion of Iraq. At the same time, the special forces begin an attack on Al-Rawi's position, whereupon he flees. When Miller catches up with him and confronts him and Al-Rawi is rethinking to cooperate, Freddy appears and kills Al-Rawi. He justified this to Miller with the words "You do not have to decide what happens in this country".

The apparently very difficult attempt is being made to establish a new Iraqi leadership. Meanwhile, Miller writes his report on the events and also reveals the connections between the Pentagon and Al-Rawi, as well as the myth of the weapons of mass destruction. Miller confronts Poundstone with his report and exposes him as the person who invented "Magellan" and thus the legitimation for war. Dayne later receives an email that contains Miller's report and is addressed to all major news companies in the world.

background

Green Zone was filmed in Murcia , Albacete and Alicante in Spain and was filmed in locations in London , Esher , Longcross and Windlesham in England as well as in Rabat , Salé and Kenitra in Morocco . The shooting took place in three stages. The film was initially shot from January 2008 to May 2008, followed by a further phase of shooting from September 2008 to December 2008. Finally, the film was re-shot from April 2009 to May 2009. The film premiered on February 26, 2010 at the Yūbari International Fantastic Film Festival in Japan . The film opened on March 12, 2010 in the USA. It started in German and Swiss cinemas on March 18, 2010. It was shown in Austria one day later. On the opening weekend, Green Zone grossed $ 14.3 million in the United States, with an estimated production cost of between $ 100 million and $ 130 million. In total, just over $ 35 million was raised in the United States.

US tanks in front of the " Swords of Kadesia " monument

The film made use of a variety of animation techniques in post-production . For example, instead of the Black Hawk shown , Hueys were initially used for the shooting so that the soldiers could jump out of them and the dust did not have to be generated digitally. Later, the two types of helicopter were exchanged for each other in post-production. Since the shooting for the scenes showing the Iraqi Palace of the Republic in Baghdad was actually made in Morocco and the swimming pool was on the opposite side of the original in the Iraqi capital, the pool was digitally cut out and placed on the inserted again on the other side. The scenes in the halls of Saddam's Palace of the Republic were filmed at Freemasons' Hall in London.

Various special effects were used during the shooting . For the interior shots of General Al-Rawi's house, the film set was placed on balloons, the air pressure of which constantly changed to create the impression of being hit by bombs.

Khalid Abdalla , a native of Egypt , learned an Iraqi dialect for his role. Many of the soldiers who appear on Matt Damon's team in the film are not actors, but rather veterans from the Second Gulf War and the war in Afghanistan . Director Paul Greengrass also brought in his military experience, as he began his career with documentaries from war zones. Ben Sliney , who played himself in a short appearance in " Flight 93 ", the previous film production by Paul Greengrass, can be seen in a cameo .

Soundtrack

On March 19, 2010, the soundtrack was released by the record label Colosseum Alive, which includes 14 music tracks. Once again John Powell , who provided the background music for the film " The Bourne Identity " with Matt Damon in the leading role, was responsible for the soundtrack in 2002 .

No. title
1. Opening book
2. 1st WMD raid
3. Traffic Jam
4th Meeting raid
5. Helicopter / Freddy Runs
6th Questions
7th Miller Googles
8th. Truth / Magellan / Attack
9. Mobilize / Find Al-Rawi
10. Evac Preps Part 1
11. Evac Preps Part 2
12. Attack and Chase
13. WTF
14th Chaos / email

criticism

“Green Zone: A top-class action thriller. Anyone who loved Bourne will love this Baghdad intrigue too. Matt Damon is great. The story is a bit dull, but the effects are great. "

- Norbert Körzdörfer, photo

“ Green Zone is a solid political action thriller that blows some wind out of its own sails because it trumpets its message too rudely to the world. Far less gripping and intense than The Hurt Locker , Operation: Kingdom or Von Löwen und Lammern , Paul Greengrass sends a program-conscious Jason Bourne blend to Iraq - without, however, reaching the class of the original. "

- Carsten Baumgardt, film starts

" Green Zone is an uncompromising political war film about the American occupation of Iraq and its dubious legitimation."

- Cinema

“ Green Zone will no doubt come under fire from the people who are still defending the fabricated information we used as an excuse to invade Iraq. Yes, the film is fiction, uses far-fetched coincidences, and is unlikely to put a man at the center of it all. It's a thriller, not a documentary. I believe the essence of the neocon devil work is pretty obvious now. Others will say no. The bottom line is: This is an amazing thriller. "

- Roger Ebert: Chicago Sun-Times

Awards

The German film and media rating awarded the film “particularly valuable” because “the film conveys very clearly what is usually not possible in news and official reports, that a war affects the whole population and creates the fate of them will never be discussed again when the war is over ”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Approval certificate for Green Zone . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , March 2010 (PDF; test number: 121 183 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for Green Zone . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ Locations according to the Internet Movie Database
  4. ↑ a b c d budget and box office results according to the Internet Movie Database
  5. ↑ a b c d Start dates according to the Internet Movie Database
  6. ^ Richard Corliss: Box Office: "Alice" Turns Damon a Sickly "Green". Time , March 14, 2010.
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Background information at Internet Movie Database
  8. ↑ Palastszene-Freemasons Hall , on the homepage www.trailerseite.de ( Bringing order into chaos: scenes and design) (Accessed January 17, 2013).
  9. ↑ Norbert Körzdörfer: Killer machine Jason Bourne is looking for weapons of mass destruction in Baghdad (film review) on bild.de, March 17, 2010.
  10. ^ Carsten Baumgardt: Green Zone (film review) on filmstarts.de
  11. ↑ Green Zone (film review) on cinema.de
  12. ^ Roger Ebert: Green Zone (film review). Chicago Sun-Times , March 10, 2010 (English)
  13. ↑ Award of the German Film and Media Assessment