GREEN ZONE

“GREEN ZONE” (Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson & Amy Ryan)
Taking your plot from ‘real life’ & making your own fictitious story around it is tricky business - it worked to perfection in “The Last King Of Scotland” – & they make it work here. “Green Zone” centers around Matt Damon’s Chief Roy Miller & his battalions’ fruitless searches for WMD’s in Iraq. “All they want to do is find something they can hold up on CNN.” But all Miller’s men find are toilet parts & pigeon poop.
What I liked about this movie is that it was easy to follow because it was based on a recent historical event – We all know there were no WMD’s, so it was easy to concentrate on the characters & the ‘cover up’. If someone were to complain that it might be a bit TOO simple, I wouldn’t argue with them.
Greg Kinnear plays Clark Poundstone, Washington D.C.’s head of ‘Intel’ in Iraq – he controls the ‘SF’(Special Forces) who blindly follow orders though knowing that what they’re doing is wrong. Poundstone continues to defend his source, the mysterious ‘Magellan’, & blames the military for being unable to follow directions to the WMD sites.
Brendan Gleeson plays C.I.A. agent Martin Brown; Poundstone’s main antagonist, who is constantly attempting to undermine Poundstone’s authority.
When Chief Miller is approached by a one legged citizen named Freddy who witnessed one of Hussein’s chief advisors, General Al Rawi, entering a home just a few blocks away, Miller risks walking into a booby trap & follows Freddy.
I had to chuckle every time Al Rawi was shown, as he immediately scampers away like a frightened pussycat as soon as gunfire is heard, proving that when the going gets tough, the Generals run away to safety.
Speaking of which, ‘Green Zone’ refers to the ‘safety zone’ where the strategists can be pampered in luxury while the ‘real men’ are left to scurry about the filthy streets knowing that a sniper’s bullet could end their lives at any second.
Freddy proves to be valuable to Miller as a translator, though the Iraqi citizen is clearly uncomfortable with the job. He tells Miller, “It is not for you to decide what happens here.” Freddy knows Miller is one of the rare good guys so his quote was meant toward the U.S. Government...
When Miller hooks up with Agent Brown, they plot to bring in Al Rawi to find out what he knows as the U.S. attempts to bring in an outsider to take over the country.
The last thing Poundstone wants is for the truth to come out, so Intel shuts down the CIA & Miller is left to act on his own.
‘Green Zone’ is intelligent, well acted (forgot to mention Amy Ryan – very believable as Wall Street Journal reporter Laurie Dayne) & probably closer to the truth than the Republican party would want you to believe... Which leads me to another complaint – why do they call them ‘parties’ – nobody in politics is having any fun... well, except for the horndogs who are cheating on their spouses.