I went to see Operation Dreamland last night at the Chelsea. The film makers were there and answered questions about the film after the showing to a packed theater audience. I really liked the film and was surprised by how good it was. I expected another somewhat antiwar documentary and was surprised by the lack of film maker's voice and how it was really much more just letting the soldiers speak.

The film is about 2 weeks in the life of a squad in I/505 82nd Airborne Division in Falluja in the winter of 2004. The film was shot about 1-1.5 months before the Marines rotated in to relieve the 82nd and the first siege promped by the killings of 4 Blackwater Mercenaries.

It is really a "this is the life of a squad of soldiers" in Iraq. The film makers go on missions, attend briefings and attend a "required" meeting for those who are thinking of mustering out after their term is up. The soldiers in the movie are incredibly candid, and according to the film makers liked the movie - they've all seen it. Particularly funny is that there are several scenes of soldiers speaking to Iraqis (doing their required community outreach on patrol) and the interpreter is translating about half to a third of what the Iraqis are saying such that the Sergeant and Lt. don't even really know what they are saying. When they got to see the film, the reaction was "Oh that's what the fuck they were saying to us". The filmmakers had no idea what they were recording at the time, in one scene, Ian said he thought the people were cursing at him and taking the piss out of him, when they were really asking him about why a woman had been detained.

Anyhow, go see it if you are interested, I highly recommend it. They opened it in North Carolina because the 82nd is based in Fort Bragg. It opens next week in NY and other cities. The greater the receipts at the Box Office this weekend, the more cities it will open in.