The Road to Fallujah

Filmmaker Mark Manning's provocative documentary looks at the 2004 military conflict in the Iraqi city of Fallujah and its after-effects on both Iraqi and U.S. participants. Manning, who became the only un-embedded Western civilian to live in Fallujah after the conflict ended, worked with Iraqi human rights worker Rana Al-Aiouby to document first-person accounts from the civilian population. Not surprisingly, the Iraqi people here react with pain and anguish at the loss of loved ones (an estimated 6,000 civilians were killed) and destruction of property, as they detail the terror created by U.S. cluster bomb and phosphorous attacks. U.S. military personnel interviewed are mostly indifferent to the point of insouciance (one sergeant blithely remarks, “It's war—it is what it is.”). After-the-fact observations from Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, and Rep. Maxine Waters here add relatively little insight into the human drama at Fallujah, but considering how the U.S. media all but ignored the catastrophic results of the Fallujah conflict on the local population, this documentary fills a significant gap. DVD extras include bonus interviews. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)