"It's not something you're going to cheer at the end"

[Tuesday_Morning]

Said one senior Army official.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/us/14hbo.html

Army Concerned about HBO War Film

By EDWARD WYATT

Senior Army officials have scaled back their planned participation in an advance screening of a documentary about an Army Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad out of concern that its grim medical scenes could demoralize soldiers and their families and negatively affect public opinion about the war, Army officials said Friday.

<snip>

The documentary, titled "Baghdad ER," chronicles two months at the 86th Combat Support Hospital, where filmmakers were given broad access to follow doctors, nurses, medics and others as they treated soldiers wounded by roadside bombs and in combat. As one nurse, Specialist Saidet Lanier, says in the film: "This is hard-core, raw, uncut trauma. Day after day, every day."

The Army officials said that concerns about the documentary — which includes footage of an amputation, wounded soldiers undergoing surgery , and, in some cases, dying — were also raised by the wives of top Army officers who had seen the documentary.

<snip>

"Anything showing the grim realities of war is, in a sense, antiwar," said Sheila Nevins, president of HBO's documentary and family unit. "In that way, the film is a sort of Rorschach test. You see in it what you bring to it."

Betcha this won't help the military's recruiting problem.

Baghdad ER premieres May 21 on HBO

[BrklynLiberal]

1. War is grim and bloody???!! Wow what a shock!!

:sarcasm:

I think it would be the best possible thing for everyone to be forced to come to grips with the truth about war and its grim aftermath!!!!!
Too bad this is not going to be on NBC, CBS or ABC so EVERYONE would be watching it.

[MADem]

3. Yeah, gee...ya mean John Wayne doesn't go bravely over the Hill?

His helmet at a cocky angle, exhorting his subordinates to move forward, standing dramatically while bullets fired by a blind enemy whiz around him? No clean deaths, with almost no blood, and little Private Johnny telling his pal to look out for his Ma and his best girl?

It oughta be the opening damn film at the Republican National Convention.

[yellerpup]

2. Jon Alpert is a heroic documentary maker

I don't have HBO, but for those of you who do, don't miss this work! I worked with him back in 1998 (Politically Incorrect found him too liberal to book!--"nothing to push against" was the way they put it--but then, they never had a shortage of liberals who wanted to be on) He was in Baghdad several times before the war/between the wars and suffered a cavity search to bring the truth to us. If you get a chance, show him your love!

[rzemanfl]

4. Cavity search? What's the big deal about a cavity search, I have

a cavity search every time I go to the dentist. They never find any because I brush and floss. Oh, that kind of cavity...never mind.

Emily Latrilla's ghost.

[reichstag911]

6. I believe that's...

...Emily Litella. :P

[rzemanfl]

19. Ghosts don't have to be able to spell, what are you going to do,

kill me?

[reichstag911]

21. But...but...

...it's not just spelling. The addition of the "r" adds an additional sound to the name which doesn't belong. And if I were to kill you, then you'd be a ghost and you wouldn't have to be able to spell! :think:

[yellerpup]

14. Good one Emily.

LOL

[Tuesday_Morning]

5. Maybe we could interview him here

Do you still have a way of getting in touch with him?

[yellerpup]

13. By here do you mean on DU?

I bet I could track him down without too much trouble. IF he's in the country.

[Tuesday_Morning]

15. Yeah, I think it'd be really interesting.

I'm sure he's got a lot to say. PM me if you find him.

[yellerpup]

16. Will do.

He's a very interesting fellow.

[berni_mccoy]

7. "Anything showing the grim realities of war is...anitwar" WTF?!?!

The TRUTH is ANTI-WAR?!

There you have it people.

[BrklynLiberal]

9. Well..I guess in a way it is,because anyone who knows the truth about war

would be against it. :shrug:

[Sydnie]

12. Colbert's "reality based reporting" strikes again

It has a liberal bias because it is "reality based". Thank you Stephen!

[bamademo]

8. I work at an Army Hospital and they sent out email warning against this.

They are concerned it will trigger more PTSD. I work with quite a few soldiers that have shown signs of it.

[rzemanfl]

20. Please answer me something. Why is it that we never see

angry family members of the horribly wounded? Is the government threatening them or what?

[shadowknows69]

10. Kudos to HBO

I don't know where their corporate political loyalties lie but they have made some of the best docs and docudramas that have been on televison and a lot of them are overlooked. "The Sword of Gideon" from the 80's is based on exactly the same book as Spielburg's "Munich" and just as good IMO. "The band played on" was a huge factor in opening america's eyes to the genesis of the AIDS epidemic and how, big suprise, if not for government red tape thousands if not millions could have been saved. Something like this seems to be the last vestige of real journalism out there. All hail the documentary makers. Need any help?

[Jara sang]

11. The ghouls are just worried about recruitment.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

17. It's a little different than those rockclimbing scenes in the recruit ads,

eh?

[Tuesday_Morning]

18. And a little different

than all those military video games.