Arguing with tin foil hat people used to be fun. It used to be an exercise in paranoid creative thinking. Fast forwards two decades and a series of unfortunate events (9/11, Afghanistan, Obama, WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden, to name a few), tin foil hat people have become annoying and depressing to be around since they were probably right all along, at least since the war on terror has begun. Jeremy Scahill is the latest whistleblower about American government covert operations in the Middle East. The documentay DIRTY WARS is based on his investigations that expose not only irregularities in military operations, but who point at alarming behavior from special ops that would fit in HOMELAND or in an espionnage novel.
The investigation begun in the Afghani city of Gardez for Jeremy Scahill. After interviewing a family who's house had just been raided by American special forces, he found out the chief of police and two pregnant women were killed and that the bullets were pulled from their bodies by the soldiers. The trail of bodies left by U.S Army's Joint Special Operations Command will lead Jeremy Scahill outside the war zone and into Yemen, where the U.S government is pursuing its own citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, an Imam who used to preach peace and tolerance, for speaking against the U.S on his blog. That raises the following questions: how do you get on a U.S Army target list? How many names are on that list? and will lists ever end one day? DIRTY WARS investigates these questions and draws a portrait of how the world became a complicated, never-ending battlefield.
One thing you need to know about DIRTY WARS is that it was written by Jeremy Scahill, but directed by Rick Rowley. So the overproduced and hyperstylized aesthetic is not a product of self-indulgence. Rowley gives the rockstar treatment to his subject and sells conspiracy as a sexy idea, not unlike HOMELAND does. That is showing keen understanding of the mechanics of capitalism. A product always sell better if it's actually being sold rather than just being. Comedy Central's behemoth SOUTH PARK is another example of well-packaged criticism *. The haunting first person narration of Jeremy Scahill mixed with the raw, untampered interview footage creates a unique point of view on this war that became everyday news for us. A point of view everyone can understand and appreciate.
Jeremy Scahill isn't the most charismatic person, but he is fearless and driven.
DIRTY WARS fails to provide answers to several questions it raises, but that's what makes it pertinent. The Yemen segment of his investigation was particularly heartbreaking. There is footage of innocent casualties of drone strikes. Children, some probably too young to even speak, dead into a pile of rubble. Some criticism suggested that DIRTY WARS doesn't provide historical context or doesn't show both sides of the argument. It's about right, but it's not difficult to find official versions. Jeremy Scahill wanted to portray a truth that wasn't shown by the Occidental media and the images he came home with are difficult to bear. The U.S government has created a loose cannon in JSOC and it's quite proud of it.
I'm not sure how it happened, but DIRTY WARS was nominated for best documentary at the Oscars. There are several really cool, politically engaged documentaries nominated this year, but DIRTY WARS has to get a close look for its feeling of urgency and its presentation of a question that was meant to be boring for common folk. There is a war going on. A war that doesn't target a nation or a set group of people, but a concept **. That means any action could be taken against anybody, anywhere for arbitrary reasons and the methods are creating a painful amount of collateral damage (drone strikes). DIRTY WARS doesn't give answers to the question it raises, but it's not its place. The purpose Jeremy Scahill's investigation is expose the state of logicless, xenophobic and perpetual war we live in and it succeeds beautifully.
BADASS
BADASS
* Granted that criticizing pop culture is a much safer choice than picking on the American government.
** Terror.
** Terror.