70
An engaging Iraqudrama that straddles the line between blistering exposé and Spielbergian heart-tugger.
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70
Largely improvised, cast with ex-Marines and Iraqi refugees and shot in Jordan. It might just be the movie this war has been waiting for.
80
New York Magazine (Vulture) by David Edelstein
Battle for Haditha has some of the raw energy of Sam Fuller's war pictures, which weren't subtle but left you energized by their ambivalence (there was no good or evil). It's a hell of a picture.
50
Broomfield, whose celebrity exposés are known for their intrusiveness and innuendo, lost me with his gentle shower scene between an Iraqi woman and her husband; even if it wasn't invented, is it really any of our business?
50
Broomfield's film is didactic, awkwardly acted by the cast of former Marines who are meant to lend the film credibility, and clumsily inflammatory.
25
The film is an exposé only of a filmmaker's senseless contempt for the military.
60
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
Mr. Broomfield maintains a level of cool detachment throughout. That's to the good of the movie, which, though technically exemplary, falters dramatically on occasion, becoming dangerously close to overheated whenever the characters speak for any length.
80
The Hollywood Reporter by Michael Rechtshaffen
With its dialogue largely improvised by many who had seen extensive combat in Iraq, Battle for Haditha has a gripping authenticity lacking in other similarly themed dramas.
75
Unsubtle but gripping.
80
Intense, fair-minded entry in the pileup of Iraq pictures.