Green Zone (film)
Encyclopedia
Green Zone is a 2010 American war
thriller film written by Brian Helgeland
and directed by Paul Greengrass
. The film was inspired by the non-fiction 2006 book Imperial Life in the Emerald City
by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran
, which documented life in the Green Zone
, Baghdad
. The film stars Matt Damon
, Greg Kinnear
, Brendan Gleeson
, Amy Ryan
, Khalid Abdalla
and Jason Isaacs
.
Production began in January 2008 in Spain and moved on to Morocco. The film was released in Australia and Russia on March 11, 2010, and in the US and some other countries on March 12, 2010. The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on June 22, 2010.
), hiding in Baghdad, is meeting with his aides and talking about the invasion of Iraq
early in the morning of March 19, 2003. Al-Rawi suggests that they wait until the Americans arrive and perhaps make his army an offer to join their forces before forming an insurgency against the invaders.
Four weeks later, U.S. Army
Chief Warrant Officer
Roy Miller (Matt Damon
) and his squad investigate a warehouse, believed to be holding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
. To Miller's surprise the warehouse is not secure, with looters making their way in and out as soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division
sporadically fight the Iraqis. But they find that the warehouse is empty. At a debriefing, Miller brings up the point that the majority of the intel
given to him is inaccurate and anonymous, stating that on his last three attempts to find WMDs, his team had come up with nothing. High-ranking officials quickly dismiss Miller's theory about the intelligence being false. After the debriefing, Miller meets Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson
), a CIA officer based in the Middle East who tells Miller that the next place he is going to investigate for WMDs is also empty, as a UN team had already searched there two months ago.
Meanwhile, Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear
) is welcoming an Iraqi politician named Ahmed Zubaidi (Raad Rawi) at the Baghdad International Airport
, where he is questioned by Wall Street Journal correspondent Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan
). Because of global pressure about the WMD intel not materializing, she says she needs to speak directly to "Magellan," to which Poundstone says that he is too securely "locked up".
While investigating another site, Miller is approached by the Iraqi who calls himself "Freddy" (Khalid Abdalla
), who tells Miller that he saw some Ba'ath Party VIPs meeting in a nearby home. Miller and his men swiftly arrive and burst into the house. Al-Rawi narrowly escapes, but one of his henchmen is taken into custody. Before Miller can extract any more information the man is grabbed by special operations personnel. Dayne finds Poundstone again and complains about how he is hanging her "out to dry", but he maintains his dismissive posture, justifying that the stakes are much larger than her role in selling newspapers.
Miller goes to Brown's hotel in the Green Zone and tells him what happened. Brown arranges for Miller to visit the man removed from his custody by the special operations personnel. Before leaving he is approached by Dayne. Miller soon finds the Iraqi informant in prison. Near death from his brutal interrogation, the man responds to Miller's question with one word: "Jordan." Miller goes to Dayne's hotel room to confront her about the bogus intel she published, but she refuses to disclose her source to which he retorts, "Jesus Christ, this is the reason we went to war!" He continues to press her about what she knows, saying "How does somebody like you write something that's not true?!" She reluctantly confirms that her source had met with Magellan in Jordan. With Brown's help Miller's suspicions are confirmed that Al-Rawi met with Poundstone in February in Jordan as Poundstone's inside man.
Miller has by now realised that Poundstone probably wants to prevent Al-Rawi from disclosing the fact that he had never confirmed the presence of WMDs. When Miller tries to meet with Al-Rawi to encourage him to turn himself in before he is killed by Poundstone's men, he is kidnapped by Al-Rawi's men because Poundstone had just announced the decision to disband the entire Iraqi army
. Al-Rawi tells Miller that he told Poundstone there had been no WMD program since the First Persian Gulf War; Poundstone was being used by his superiors in Washington so that Iraq would be invaded. American forces commence an attack on Al-Rawi's positions and the general flees. Meanwhile, Miller kills his captor and races to capture Al-Rawi. When he finally manages to catch up with him, Freddy suddenly appears and kills Al-Rawi, saying to Miller, "It is not for you to decide what happens here." Miller tells Freddy to escape before the area is secured by troops. Later, in his hotel suite, Miller writes a report of everything that happened.
Miller confronts Poundstone in a meeting and gives him the report. Poundstone tells Miller that WMDs do not matter. Then Miller violently grabs Poundstone, saying "the reason we go to war always matters"; but they are pulled apart. Poundstone then rejoins the Iraqi meeting, only to see the Iraqi factional leaders yelling at each other and leaving the meeting. Afterwards, Dayne receives an emailed copy of Miller's report. Miller sent it to all major news agencies around the world. The camera then pans out to show Miller and his squad driving off on the Iraqi highway, which is now used by Coalition vehicles, with the Iraqi oil fields in the background.
, director Paul Greengrass announced his intent to adapt a film of the 2006 non-fiction book Imperial Life in the Emerald City
by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
, a journalist for The Washington Post
. Greengrass wrote a script based on the book, working with researchers Kate Solomon and Michael Bronner, who helped the director research for United 93
(2006). The script was reported to be developed more in advance than the script for The Bourne Ultimatum, which had undergone changes during production. Screenwriter Tom Stoppard
was originally requested to write the script for Greengrass, but because Stoppard was too busy, screenwriter Brian Helgeland instead collaborated with the director to shape the film's premise. Greengrass expressed interest in casting in the lead actor Matt Damon, with whom he had worked on The Bourne Supremacy
and The Bourne Ultimatum, and the actor joined the project in June 2007. Actors Amy Ryan, Greg Kinnear, and Antoni Corone
were later cast in January 2008. Greengrass said of the project's contemporary relevance, "Film shouldn't be disenfranchised from the national conversation. It is never too soon for cinema to engage with events that shape our lives."
Production of Green Zone was originally slated to begin in late 2007. Instead, it began in Los Alcázares Air Base (Spain) on January 10, 2008, moved to Morocco, and finished filming in the UK in December 2008.
's justifications of the war, he became disillusioned over time. Greengrass carried out extensive research into the background to the conflict, reading left-wing journalists such as Bob Woodward
, Seymour Hersh
, James Risen
, Thomas Ricks, and Ron Suskind
, in addition to Rajiv Chandrasekaran
, whose book he optioned. He has even compiled a document, How Did We Get It So Wrong?, detailing what he learned. Although Greengrass initially wanted to make a smaller film, he eventually decided a bigger budget production would expose more people to the ideas in the film.
Addressing some of the contentions in the film, Greengrass has said that the arguments about disbanding the Iraqi army
portrayed in the film represent debates that actually took place by US policy makers. The issue of the culpability of the Fourth Estate
, i.e. the mainstream (news) media, or MSM, in taking intelligence at face value, although embodied by a single character, represents a broad based failing in both the USA and UK, but for Greengrass the fault ultimately lay with those trying to manipulate them.
Greengrass has said that both the Bourne films and Green Zone reflect a widespread popular mistrust of authority that was engendered by governments that have deliberately lied and have let their citizens down over the Iraq war. The confusion surrounding the absence of WMD in Iraq also provided an ideal scenario for a thriller, in which the protagonist battles for the truth.
of Chicago Sun-Times
awarded the film 4 stars and wrote that Green Zone is "one hell of a thriller." James Berardinelli
of ReelView gave the film 3.5 stars, stating that the "most rewarding aspect of Green Zone is the manner in which it interweaves fact and fiction into an engaging whole." A.O. Scott, writing for The New York Times, praised Greengrass' direction, writing in his review that "There is plenty of fighting in Green Zone, most of it executed with the hurtling hand-held camerawork and staccato editing that are hallmarks of Mr. Greengrass's style. From Bloody Sunday through the second and third Bourne movies (which turned Mr. Damon into a minimalist movie star), this director has honed his skill at balancing chaos with clarity."
The film has received generally mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes
reports that 54% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 167 reviews, with an average score of 6/10. Its consensus states that "Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass return to the propulsive action and visceral editing of the Bourne films
– but a cliched script and stock character
s keep those methods from being as effective this time around." Another review aggregator, Metacritic
, which assigns a normalized
rating of 0–100 on top reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film a "generally favorable" score of 61% based on 35 reviews.
" or "anti-war
". Movie reviewer and US military veteran Kyle Smith
went so far as to label the film "slander" and "appallingly anti-American." An article on Fox News.com
states, "Given this set-up, audiences are encouraged to root for Miller's rogue activities and against the government, represented in the film by a corrupt Pentagon chief played by Greg Kinnear."
Richard "Monty" Gonzales, the person on whom the character of Roy Miller was loosely based, commented that both sides of the political spectrum have reacted disproportionately and any political controversy is unwarranted. Gonzales worked as one of the film's military advisors over two years on the condition that the film would be faithful to the experience of American soldiers in Iraq. Gonzales wrote that, on the one hand, the film captures the critical intelligence blunders prior to the war and de-Baathification program that ensured that the conflict was costly and complicated. He nevertheless maintains that a reading of the film that reflects a genuine conspiracy by sections of the American government is incorrect. He sees the film as an exciting "Bourne-in-Baghdad thriller". Matt Damon cites Gonzales' motives for working on the film as being "because we need to regain our moral authority."
In the UK, the film's politics met with a mixed reception. The Daily Mail called the film "a preachy political thriller disguised as an action flick". The paper acknowledged that, while important political truths do emerge over the course of the film, the film overreaches itself as these points have "the air of being aimed at ignorant American teenagers." Tim Robey in The Daily Telegraph
conceded that "with all we retrospectively know about the wool-pulling to make the case for war, it's a kick to follow a main character on the ground who smells a rat"; he nevertheless criticized the film for lacking credibility in its portrayal of a rogue hero who never faces a reprimand and never suffers paranoia. More enthusiastically, Andrew O'Hagan in The Evening Standard called Green Zone "one of the best war films ever made" because "it does what countless newspaper articles, memoirs, government statements and public inquiries have failed to do when it comes to the war in Iraq: expose the terrible lies that stood behind the decision of the US and Britain to prosecute the war, and it does so in a way that is dramatically brilliant, morally complex and relentlessly thrilling."
The New York Times
designated the film a Critic's Pick and said that the movie, while addressing timely concerns, "seems to epitomize the ability of mainstream commercial cinema to streamline the complexities of the real world without becoming overly simplistic, to fictionalize without falsifying." James Denselow
, writing for The Guardian, praises the film's portrayal of the conflict, saying "ultimately what gives the film its credibility is that it avoids any simplistic idea that Iraq could have simply been 'got right'. Indeed Miller's vision of exposing the WMD conspiracy and the CIA's plan to keep the Iraqi army is undermined by the film's wildcard – a nationalist Shia war veteran who turns the plot on its head before delivering the killer line to the Americans when he tells them: 'It is not for you to decide what happens here [in this country].'"
Greengrass defended his film in an interview with Charlie Rose
, saying, "The problem, I think, for me is that something about that event strained all the bonds and sinews that connect us all together. For me it's to do with the fact that they said they had the intelligence, and then it emerged later that they did not." Matt Damon also defended the film, telling MTV News
, "I don't think that's a particularly incendiary thing to say. I think that's a journey that we all went on and a fundamental question we all asked and it's not partisan." On March 13, Michael Moore
posted on his Twitter page: "I can't believe this film got made. It's been stupidly marketed as an action film. It is the most HONEST film about the Iraq War made by Hollywood." See:
Curveball (informant)
, the film opened at No. 2 in the United States with $14,309,295 in 3,003 theaters, averaging $4,765 per theater. Given its budget of roughly $100 million, in addition to its $40 million in marketing, Green Zone has been referred to as a flop for its production company Universal Studios
. In the UK the film was the third most popular film of its opening weekend, selling £1.55 million worth of tickets (or £2.07 million including previews). Comparing the relative opening weekend results of Green Zone and Shutter Island between the USA and UK, Green Zone did twice as well in the UK as on the other side of the Atlantic
. The Guardian stated that the film would be unlikely to recoup its production costs.
Green Zone has grossed $94,882,549 in total worldwide ($35,053,660 in the United States and Canada plus $59,828,889 elsewhere).
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
thriller film written by Brian Helgeland
Brian Helgeland
Brian Thomas Helgeland is an American screenwriter, film producer and director. He is most known for writing the screenplays for L.A...
and directed by Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass is an English film director, screenwriter and former journalist. He specialises in dramatisations of real-life events and is known for his signature use of hand-held cameras.-Life and career:...
. The film was inspired by the non-fiction 2006 book Imperial Life in the Emerald City
Imperial Life in the Emerald City
Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone is a 2006 book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran that takes a critical look at the civilian leadership of the American reconstruction project in Iraq...
by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Rajiv Chandrasekaran is an Indian-American journalist. He is currently the National Editor of The Washington Post, where he has worked since 1994...
, which documented life in the Green Zone
Green Zone
The Green Zone is the most common name for the International Zone of Baghdad. It is a area of central Baghdad, Iraq, that was the governmental center of the Coalition Provisional Authority and remains the center of the international presence in the city...
, Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. The film stars Matt Damon
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
, Greg Kinnear
Greg Kinnear
Gregory "Greg" Kinnear is an American actor and television personality who first rose to stardom in 1991. He has appeared in more than 20 motion pictures, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in As Good as It Gets.-Early life:Kinnear was born in Logansport, Indiana, the son of...
, Brendan Gleeson
Brendan Gleeson
Brendan Gleeson is an Irish actor. His best-known films include Braveheart, Gangs of New York, In Bruges, 28 Days Later, the Harry Potter films, The Guard and the role of Michael Collins in The Treaty...
, Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan is an American actress. She has been nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her performance in Gone Baby Gone and is also known for her roles in the HBO series The Wire, playing Port Authority Officer Beadie Russell; In Treatment, playing psychiatrist Adele Brousse; and The...
, Khalid Abdalla
Khalid Abdalla
Khalid Abdalla is a Egyptian-British actor. He came to international prominence after starring in the 2006 Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning film, United 93. Written and directed by Paul Greengrass, it chronicles events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked as part of the...
and Jason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs is an English actor born in Liverpool, who is best known for his performance as the villain Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, the brutal Colonel William Tavington in The Patriot and as lifelong criminal Michael Caffee in the internationally broadcast American television series...
.
Production began in January 2008 in Spain and moved on to Morocco. The film was released in Australia and Russia on March 11, 2010, and in the US and some other countries on March 12, 2010. The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on June 22, 2010.
Plot
Iraqi General Mohammed Al-Rawi (Yigal NaorYigal Naor
Yigal Naor is an Israeli actor.Naor was born in Giv'atayim of Iraqi Jewish descent. He has appeared in the American movies Munich, Green Zone and Rendition...
), hiding in Baghdad, is meeting with his aides and talking about the invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
early in the morning of March 19, 2003. Al-Rawi suggests that they wait until the Americans arrive and perhaps make his army an offer to join their forces before forming an insurgency against the invaders.
Four weeks later, U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
Chief Warrant Officer
Warrant Officer (United States)
In the United States military, the rank of warrant officer is rated as an officer above the senior-most enlisted ranks, as well as officer cadets and candidates, but below the officer grade of O-1...
Roy Miller (Matt Damon
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
) and his squad investigate a warehouse, believed to be holding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
Iraq and weapons of mass destruction
During the regime of Saddam Hussein, the nation of Iraq used, possessed, and made efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction . Hussein was internationally known for his use of chemical weapons in the 1980s against Iranian and Kurdish civilians during and after the Iran–Iraq War...
. To Miller's surprise the warehouse is not secure, with looters making their way in and out as soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division
101st Airborne Division
The 101st Airborne Division—the "Screaming Eagles"—is a U.S. Army modular light infantry division trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, in Normandy, France, Operation Market Garden, the...
sporadically fight the Iraqis. But they find that the warehouse is empty. At a debriefing, Miller brings up the point that the majority of the intel
Intelligence (information gathering)
Intelligence assessment is the development of forecasts of behaviour or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on a wide range of available information sources both overt and covert. Assessments are developed in response to requirements declared by the leadership...
given to him is inaccurate and anonymous, stating that on his last three attempts to find WMDs, his team had come up with nothing. High-ranking officials quickly dismiss Miller's theory about the intelligence being false. After the debriefing, Miller meets Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson
Brendan Gleeson
Brendan Gleeson is an Irish actor. His best-known films include Braveheart, Gangs of New York, In Bruges, 28 Days Later, the Harry Potter films, The Guard and the role of Michael Collins in The Treaty...
), a CIA officer based in the Middle East who tells Miller that the next place he is going to investigate for WMDs is also empty, as a UN team had already searched there two months ago.
Meanwhile, Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear
Greg Kinnear
Gregory "Greg" Kinnear is an American actor and television personality who first rose to stardom in 1991. He has appeared in more than 20 motion pictures, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in As Good as It Gets.-Early life:Kinnear was born in Logansport, Indiana, the son of...
) is welcoming an Iraqi politician named Ahmed Zubaidi (Raad Rawi) at the Baghdad International Airport
Baghdad International Airport
Baghdad International Airport, originally Saddam International Airport, , BIAP is Iraq's largest airport, located in a suburb about west of downtown Baghdad in the Baghdad Governorate...
, where he is questioned by Wall Street Journal correspondent Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan is an American actress. She has been nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her performance in Gone Baby Gone and is also known for her roles in the HBO series The Wire, playing Port Authority Officer Beadie Russell; In Treatment, playing psychiatrist Adele Brousse; and The...
). Because of global pressure about the WMD intel not materializing, she says she needs to speak directly to "Magellan," to which Poundstone says that he is too securely "locked up".
While investigating another site, Miller is approached by the Iraqi who calls himself "Freddy" (Khalid Abdalla
Khalid Abdalla
Khalid Abdalla is a Egyptian-British actor. He came to international prominence after starring in the 2006 Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning film, United 93. Written and directed by Paul Greengrass, it chronicles events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked as part of the...
), who tells Miller that he saw some Ba'ath Party VIPs meeting in a nearby home. Miller and his men swiftly arrive and burst into the house. Al-Rawi narrowly escapes, but one of his henchmen is taken into custody. Before Miller can extract any more information the man is grabbed by special operations personnel. Dayne finds Poundstone again and complains about how he is hanging her "out to dry", but he maintains his dismissive posture, justifying that the stakes are much larger than her role in selling newspapers.
Miller goes to Brown's hotel in the Green Zone and tells him what happened. Brown arranges for Miller to visit the man removed from his custody by the special operations personnel. Before leaving he is approached by Dayne. Miller soon finds the Iraqi informant in prison. Near death from his brutal interrogation, the man responds to Miller's question with one word: "Jordan." Miller goes to Dayne's hotel room to confront her about the bogus intel she published, but she refuses to disclose her source to which he retorts, "Jesus Christ, this is the reason we went to war!" He continues to press her about what she knows, saying "How does somebody like you write something that's not true?!" She reluctantly confirms that her source had met with Magellan in Jordan. With Brown's help Miller's suspicions are confirmed that Al-Rawi met with Poundstone in February in Jordan as Poundstone's inside man.
Miller has by now realised that Poundstone probably wants to prevent Al-Rawi from disclosing the fact that he had never confirmed the presence of WMDs. When Miller tries to meet with Al-Rawi to encourage him to turn himself in before he is killed by Poundstone's men, he is kidnapped by Al-Rawi's men because Poundstone had just announced the decision to disband the entire Iraqi army
Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2
Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2: Dissolution of Entities signed by CPA civil administrator L. Paul Bremer on May 23, 2003, disbanded the Iraqi military, security, and intelligence infrastructure of President Saddam Hussein...
. Al-Rawi tells Miller that he told Poundstone there had been no WMD program since the First Persian Gulf War; Poundstone was being used by his superiors in Washington so that Iraq would be invaded. American forces commence an attack on Al-Rawi's positions and the general flees. Meanwhile, Miller kills his captor and races to capture Al-Rawi. When he finally manages to catch up with him, Freddy suddenly appears and kills Al-Rawi, saying to Miller, "It is not for you to decide what happens here." Miller tells Freddy to escape before the area is secured by troops. Later, in his hotel suite, Miller writes a report of everything that happened.
Miller confronts Poundstone in a meeting and gives him the report. Poundstone tells Miller that WMDs do not matter. Then Miller violently grabs Poundstone, saying "the reason we go to war always matters"; but they are pulled apart. Poundstone then rejoins the Iraqi meeting, only to see the Iraqi factional leaders yelling at each other and leaving the meeting. Afterwards, Dayne receives an emailed copy of Miller's report. Miller sent it to all major news agencies around the world. The camera then pans out to show Miller and his squad driving off on the Iraqi highway, which is now used by Coalition vehicles, with the Iraqi oil fields in the background.
Cast
- Matt DamonMatt DamonMatthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
portrays Roy Miller, a US Army Chief Warrant Officer on the hunt for WMDs in Iraq and the film's main protagonist. Roy Miller is based on real-life Army chief warrant officer Richard "Monty" Gonzales. Damon joined the film with the assurance that production would conclude by April 14, 2008 so he could start working on the Steven SoderberghSteven SoderberghSteven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
film The Informant! on April 15, amid scheduling difficulties caused by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strikeThe 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
. - Amy RyanAmy RyanAmy Ryan is an American actress. She has been nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her performance in Gone Baby Gone and is also known for her roles in the HBO series The Wire, playing Port Authority Officer Beadie Russell; In Treatment, playing psychiatrist Adele Brousse; and The...
portrays Lawrie Dayne, a foreign correspondentForeign correspondentForeign Correspondent may refer to:*Foreign correspondent *Foreign Correspondent , an Alfred Hitchcock film*Foreign Correspondent , an Australian current affairs programme...
for The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
who investigates the Bush administrationGeorge W. Bush administrationThe presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
's claims of the existence of weapons of mass destruction. One reviewer noted that, "it's crystal-clear that...Dayne is former New York Times reporter Judith MillerJudith Miller (journalist)Judith Miller is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, formerly of the New York Times Washington bureau. Her coverage of Iraq's alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction program both before and after the 2003 invasion generated much controversy...
." - Brendan GleesonBrendan GleesonBrendan Gleeson is an Irish actor. His best-known films include Braveheart, Gangs of New York, In Bruges, 28 Days Later, the Harry Potter films, The Guard and the role of Michael Collins in The Treaty...
portrays Martin Brown, the CIA Baghdad bureau chief, loosely based on Jay GarnerJay GarnerJay Montgomery Garner is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who was appointed in 2003 as Director of the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq following the 2003 invasion of Iraq but was soon replaced by Ambassador Paul Bremer and the ambassador's successor...
. - Greg KinnearGreg KinnearGregory "Greg" Kinnear is an American actor and television personality who first rose to stardom in 1991. He has appeared in more than 20 motion pictures, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in As Good as It Gets.-Early life:Kinnear was born in Logansport, Indiana, the son of...
portrays Clark Poundstone, PentagonThe PentagonThe Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
Special Intelligence and the film's main antagonist. One reviewer saw, Paul BremerL. Paul BremerLewis Paul "Jerry" Bremer III is an American diplomat. He is most notable for being the U.S. Administrator to Iraq charged with overseeing the country's occupation after the 2003 invasion. In his role as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, he reported primarily to the U.S. Secretary of...
[sic]," Coalition Provisional AuthorityCoalition Provisional AuthorityThe Coalition Provisional Authority was established as a transitional government following the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies, members of the Multi-National Force – Iraq which was formed to oust the government of Saddam Hussein in 2003...
head in 2003–04, in the Poundstone character. - Yigal NaorYigal NaorYigal Naor is an Israeli actor.Naor was born in Giv'atayim of Iraqi Jewish descent. He has appeared in the American movies Munich, Green Zone and Rendition...
portrays General Mohammed Al-Rawi, who is an informant called 'Magellan', loosely based on the real-life informant Rafid Ahmed Alwan aka "CurveballCurveball (informant)Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi , known by the Central Intelligence Agency cryptonym "Curveball", is an Iraqi citizen who defected from Iraq in 1999, claiming that he had worked as a chemical engineer at a plant that manufactured mobile biological weapon laboratories as part of an Iraqi weapons of mass...
". - Nicoye Banks portrays Perry.
- Jason IsaacsJason IsaacsJason Isaacs is an English actor born in Liverpool, who is best known for his performance as the villain Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, the brutal Colonel William Tavington in The Patriot and as lifelong criminal Michael Caffee in the internationally broadcast American television series...
portrays Maj. Briggs, a special operations commander on the hunt for High-value targets. Although his unit is named Task Force 221 in the film, the character is presumably based on CAGDelta Force1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta is one of the United States' secretive Tier One counter-terrorism and Special Mission Units. Commonly known as Delta Force, Delta, or The Unit, it was formed under the designation 1st SFOD-D, and is officially referred to by the Department of Defense...
and DEVGRUUnited States Naval Special Warfare Development GroupThe United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group , commonly known as DEVGRU and informally by its former name SEAL Team Six , is one of the United States' four secretive counter-terrorism and Special Mission Units .The vast majority of information about DEVGRU is highly classified, and...
operators such as those in Task Force 88Task Force 88 (anti-terrorist unit)Task Force 88 is an American special operations unit formed since 11 September 2001, of which little is publicly known. Described as a "hunter-killer team" with its core made up of Delta Force, 75th Ranger Regiment Rangers and DEVGRU operators, Task Force 88 reportedly conducts covert operations...
, whose mission is the elimination of "deck of cards"Most-wanted Iraqi playing cardsIn the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition, the U.S. military developed a set of playing cards to help troops identify the most-wanted members of President Saddam Hussein's government, mostly high-ranking Baath Party members or members of the Revolutionary Command Council...
high-value targets. - Martin McDougallMartin McDougallMartin McDougall is an actor best known to US audiences for his role as the Tleilaxu Face Dancer Scytale in the Sci Fi Channel's 2003 miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.-External links:...
portrays Mr. Sheen, CIA Baghdad assistant bureau chief. - Khalid AbdallaKhalid AbdallaKhalid Abdalla is a Egyptian-British actor. He came to international prominence after starring in the 2006 Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning film, United 93. Written and directed by Paul Greengrass, it chronicles events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked as part of the...
portrays Freddy. Freddy, an Iraqi Army veteran who lost his leg in 1987 during the Iran–Iraq War, becomes Miller's translator. Abdalla was cast in the role after impressing Greengrass with his performance in United 93United 93 (film)United 93 is a 2006 fact-based historical drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Paul Greengrass that chronicles events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked during the September 11 attacks...
. The actor, who is of Egyptian descent, prepared for his role by learning the Iraqi ArabicIraqi ArabicIraqi Arabic is a continuum of mutually intelligible Arabic varieties native to the Mesopotamian basin of Iraq as well as spanning into eastern and northern Syria, western Iran, southeastern Turkey, and spoken in respective Iraqi diaspora communities.-Varieties:Iraqi Arabic has two major varieties...
dialect and reading Iraqi blogs like Riverbend and Alive in BaghdadAlive in BaghdadAlive in Baghdad is a weekly news video blog, or vlog, based in Baghdad, Iraq, distributed via website and RSS. They employ Iraqi journalists to produce videos covering various topics on daily life in Iraq following the Second Gulf War, including a piece on citizens trying to protect their...
. - Michael O'NeillMichael O'Neill (actor)Michael O'Neill is an American actor.With a career stretching through three decades, he usually portrays senior law enforcement or military officers. He is perhaps best known for his role as Special Agent Ron Butterfield, the head of President Josiah Bartlet's Secret Service detail, on The West Wing...
portrays Colonel Bethel - Antoni CoroneAntoni CoroneAntoni Corone is an American actor and producer who lives in Hollywood, Florida.He was raised in Willoughby and Wickliffe, Ohio. When character player Corone launched his screen career in the mid-1980s, producers immediately foresaw a perfect niche for him, and started casting him as rugged,...
portrays Colonel Lyons - Tommy CampbellTommy Campbell (actor)Tommy Campbell is a stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is a dual-citizen of Ireland and Canada and currently resides in London, England...
portrays the Chopper Comms Commander. - Paul McIntoshPaul McIntoshPaul McIntosh is a former professional ice hockey player who played 48 games for the Buffalo Sabres in the mid 1970s. After his retirement he coached the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League in the early 1980s, and also served as the team's General Manager for much of the 1990s. He won CHL...
portrays a CIA officer. - Sean Huze portrays U.S. Army Sergeant Conway, a member of Roy Miller's MET team.
- Robert Harrison O'Neil portrays a TV Journalist.
- Said Faraj portrays Seyyed Hamza
- Abdul Henderson portrays Marshall, a member of Roy Miller's MET
Production
In January 2007, after completing The Bourne UltimatumThe Bourne Ultimatum (film)
The Bourne Ultimatum is a 2007 American spy film directed by Paul Greengrass and loosely based on the Robert Ludlum novel of the same title. This film is the third in the Bourne film series, being preceded by The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy...
, director Paul Greengrass announced his intent to adapt a film of the 2006 non-fiction book Imperial Life in the Emerald City
Imperial Life in the Emerald City
Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone is a 2006 book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran that takes a critical look at the civilian leadership of the American reconstruction project in Iraq...
by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Rajiv Chandrasekaran is an Indian-American journalist. He is currently the National Editor of The Washington Post, where he has worked since 1994...
, a journalist for The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. Greengrass wrote a script based on the book, working with researchers Kate Solomon and Michael Bronner, who helped the director research for United 93
United 93 (film)
United 93 is a 2006 fact-based historical drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Paul Greengrass that chronicles events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked during the September 11 attacks...
(2006). The script was reported to be developed more in advance than the script for The Bourne Ultimatum, which had undergone changes during production. Screenwriter Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
was originally requested to write the script for Greengrass, but because Stoppard was too busy, screenwriter Brian Helgeland instead collaborated with the director to shape the film's premise. Greengrass expressed interest in casting in the lead actor Matt Damon, with whom he had worked on The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Supremacy (film)
The Bourne Supremacy is a 2004 American spy film very loosely based on Robert Ludlum's novel of the same name. The film was directed by Paul Greengrass, written by Tony Gilroy and Brian Helgeland, and produced by Frank Marshall and Pat Crowley. Universal Pictures released the film to theaters in...
and The Bourne Ultimatum, and the actor joined the project in June 2007. Actors Amy Ryan, Greg Kinnear, and Antoni Corone
Antoni Corone
Antoni Corone is an American actor and producer who lives in Hollywood, Florida.He was raised in Willoughby and Wickliffe, Ohio. When character player Corone launched his screen career in the mid-1980s, producers immediately foresaw a perfect niche for him, and started casting him as rugged,...
were later cast in January 2008. Greengrass said of the project's contemporary relevance, "Film shouldn't be disenfranchised from the national conversation. It is never too soon for cinema to engage with events that shape our lives."
Production of Green Zone was originally slated to begin in late 2007. Instead, it began in Los Alcázares Air Base (Spain) on January 10, 2008, moved to Morocco, and finished filming in the UK in December 2008.
Director's motivation
Director Paul Greengrass has said that he first thought about making a movie about the subject of the war in Iraq rather than telling a particular story. Although he initially supported Tony BlairTony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
's justifications of the war, he became disillusioned over time. Greengrass carried out extensive research into the background to the conflict, reading left-wing journalists such as Bob Woodward
Bob Woodward
Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist and non-fiction author. He has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 as a reporter, and is currently an associate editor of the Post....
, Seymour Hersh
Seymour Hersh
Seymour Myron Hersh is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine on military and security matters...
, James Risen
James Risen
James Risen is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist for The New York Times who previously worked for the Los Angeles Times. He has written or co-written many articles concerning U.S...
, Thomas Ricks, and Ron Suskind
Ron Suskind
Ron Suskind is a Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist and best-selling author. He was the senior national affairs writer for The Wall Street Journal from 1993 to 2000 and has published the books A Hope in the Unseen, The Price of Loyalty, The One Percent Doctrine, The Way of the World and...
, in addition to Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Rajiv Chandrasekaran is an Indian-American journalist. He is currently the National Editor of The Washington Post, where he has worked since 1994...
, whose book he optioned. He has even compiled a document, How Did We Get It So Wrong?, detailing what he learned. Although Greengrass initially wanted to make a smaller film, he eventually decided a bigger budget production would expose more people to the ideas in the film.
Addressing some of the contentions in the film, Greengrass has said that the arguments about disbanding the Iraqi army
Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2
Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2: Dissolution of Entities signed by CPA civil administrator L. Paul Bremer on May 23, 2003, disbanded the Iraqi military, security, and intelligence infrastructure of President Saddam Hussein...
portrayed in the film represent debates that actually took place by US policy makers. The issue of the culpability of the Fourth Estate
Fourth Estate
The concept of the Fourth Estate is a societal or political force or institution whose influence is not consistently or officially recognized. The Fourth Estate now most commonly refers to the news media; especially print journalism, referred to hereon as "The Press"...
, i.e. the mainstream (news) media, or MSM, in taking intelligence at face value, although embodied by a single character, represents a broad based failing in both the USA and UK, but for Greengrass the fault ultimately lay with those trying to manipulate them.
Greengrass has said that both the Bourne films and Green Zone reflect a widespread popular mistrust of authority that was engendered by governments that have deliberately lied and have let their citizens down over the Iraq war. The confusion surrounding the absence of WMD in Iraq also provided an ideal scenario for a thriller, in which the protagonist battles for the truth.
Critical response
Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
awarded the film 4 stars and wrote that Green Zone is "one hell of a thriller." James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
of ReelView gave the film 3.5 stars, stating that the "most rewarding aspect of Green Zone is the manner in which it interweaves fact and fiction into an engaging whole." A.O. Scott, writing for The New York Times, praised Greengrass' direction, writing in his review that "There is plenty of fighting in Green Zone, most of it executed with the hurtling hand-held camerawork and staccato editing that are hallmarks of Mr. Greengrass's style. From Bloody Sunday through the second and third Bourne movies (which turned Mr. Damon into a minimalist movie star), this director has honed his skill at balancing chaos with clarity."
The film has received generally mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 54% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 167 reviews, with an average score of 6/10. Its consensus states that "Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass return to the propulsive action and visceral editing of the Bourne films
Bourne (film series)
The Bourne films are a series of dramatic films based on the character Jason Bourne, a former CIA assassin suffering from extreme memory loss, created by author Robert Ludlum. All three of Ludlum's novels were adapted for the screen, featuring Matt Damon as the titular character in each...
– but a cliched script and stock character
Stock character
A Stock character is a fictional character based on a common literary or social stereotype. Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. In their most general form, stock characters are related to literary archetypes,...
s keep those methods from being as effective this time around." Another review aggregator, Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Normalization (statistics)
In one usage in statistics, normalization is the process of isolating statistical error in repeated measured data. A normalization is sometimes based on a property...
rating of 0–100 on top reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film a "generally favorable" score of 61% based on 35 reviews.
Political controversy
The film has received political criticism. Some have called it "anti-AmericanAnti-Americanism
The term Anti-Americanism, or Anti-American Sentiment, refers to broad opposition or hostility to the people, policies, culture or government of the United States...
" or "anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
". Movie reviewer and US military veteran Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith is an American critic, novelist and essayist. He is a staff film critic for the New York Post. His film reviewing style has been called "an exercise in hilarious hostility" by Entertainment Weekly....
went so far as to label the film "slander" and "appallingly anti-American." An article on Fox News.com
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
states, "Given this set-up, audiences are encouraged to root for Miller's rogue activities and against the government, represented in the film by a corrupt Pentagon chief played by Greg Kinnear."
Richard "Monty" Gonzales, the person on whom the character of Roy Miller was loosely based, commented that both sides of the political spectrum have reacted disproportionately and any political controversy is unwarranted. Gonzales worked as one of the film's military advisors over two years on the condition that the film would be faithful to the experience of American soldiers in Iraq. Gonzales wrote that, on the one hand, the film captures the critical intelligence blunders prior to the war and de-Baathification program that ensured that the conflict was costly and complicated. He nevertheless maintains that a reading of the film that reflects a genuine conspiracy by sections of the American government is incorrect. He sees the film as an exciting "Bourne-in-Baghdad thriller". Matt Damon cites Gonzales' motives for working on the film as being "because we need to regain our moral authority."
In the UK, the film's politics met with a mixed reception. The Daily Mail called the film "a preachy political thriller disguised as an action flick". The paper acknowledged that, while important political truths do emerge over the course of the film, the film overreaches itself as these points have "the air of being aimed at ignorant American teenagers." Tim Robey in The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
conceded that "with all we retrospectively know about the wool-pulling to make the case for war, it's a kick to follow a main character on the ground who smells a rat"; he nevertheless criticized the film for lacking credibility in its portrayal of a rogue hero who never faces a reprimand and never suffers paranoia. More enthusiastically, Andrew O'Hagan in The Evening Standard called Green Zone "one of the best war films ever made" because "it does what countless newspaper articles, memoirs, government statements and public inquiries have failed to do when it comes to the war in Iraq: expose the terrible lies that stood behind the decision of the US and Britain to prosecute the war, and it does so in a way that is dramatically brilliant, morally complex and relentlessly thrilling."
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
designated the film a Critic's Pick and said that the movie, while addressing timely concerns, "seems to epitomize the ability of mainstream commercial cinema to streamline the complexities of the real world without becoming overly simplistic, to fictionalize without falsifying." James Denselow
James Denselow
James Denselow is a writer on Middle East politics and security issues.He has visited and worked extensively in the Middle East over the past few years, working as a researcher at Chatham House between 2003 and 2005, for an NGO in Syria between 2006-7 and working for a humanitarian NGO to the...
, writing for The Guardian, praises the film's portrayal of the conflict, saying "ultimately what gives the film its credibility is that it avoids any simplistic idea that Iraq could have simply been 'got right'. Indeed Miller's vision of exposing the WMD conspiracy and the CIA's plan to keep the Iraqi army is undermined by the film's wildcard – a nationalist Shia war veteran who turns the plot on its head before delivering the killer line to the Americans when he tells them: 'It is not for you to decide what happens here [in this country].'"
Greengrass defended his film in an interview with Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose
Charles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993...
, saying, "The problem, I think, for me is that something about that event strained all the bonds and sinews that connect us all together. For me it's to do with the fact that they said they had the intelligence, and then it emerged later that they did not." Matt Damon also defended the film, telling MTV News
MTV News
MTV News is the news division of MTV, one of the first and most popular music television network in the U.S., as well as some of MTV's related channels around the world. MTV News began in the late 1980s with the program The Week In Rock, hosted by Kurt Loder, the first official MTV News correspondent...
, "I don't think that's a particularly incendiary thing to say. I think that's a journey that we all went on and a fundamental question we all asked and it's not partisan." On March 13, Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
posted on his Twitter page: "I can't believe this film got made. It's been stupidly marketed as an action film. It is the most HONEST film about the Iraq War made by Hollywood." See:
Curveball (informant)
Curveball (informant)
Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi , known by the Central Intelligence Agency cryptonym "Curveball", is an Iraqi citizen who defected from Iraq in 1999, claiming that he had worked as a chemical engineer at a plant that manufactured mobile biological weapon laboratories as part of an Iraqi weapons of mass...
Box office flop
According to Box Office MojoBox Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...
, the film opened at No. 2 in the United States with $14,309,295 in 3,003 theaters, averaging $4,765 per theater. Given its budget of roughly $100 million, in addition to its $40 million in marketing, Green Zone has been referred to as a flop for its production company Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. In the UK the film was the third most popular film of its opening weekend, selling £1.55 million worth of tickets (or £2.07 million including previews). Comparing the relative opening weekend results of Green Zone and Shutter Island between the USA and UK, Green Zone did twice as well in the UK as on the other side of the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. The Guardian stated that the film would be unlikely to recoup its production costs.
Green Zone has grossed $94,882,549 in total worldwide ($35,053,660 in the United States and Canada plus $59,828,889 elsewhere).