The Situation

Indie filmmaker Philip Haas (Angels and Insects, The Music of Chance) helmed this low-budget effort, billed as the first narrative feature to incorporate the occupation of Iraq (the film was actually shot in Morocco) as a plot device. Unfortunately, however, The Situation serves up a ridiculous love triangle that seems more in keeping with the disposable B-movie efforts churned out by Hollywood during World War II. Connie Nielsen stars as the blonde Anna, an American journalist with a nose for news and a bed open to two men: CIA hunk Dan (Damian Lewis) and handsome Iraqi photographer Zaid (Mido Hamada). All three are distracted by a bit of a scandal involving American soldiers accused of throwing an Iraqi boy to his death from a bridge, and eventually Anna finds herself in the center of a dangerous situation as Iraq descends into its current state of civil war. Written by Wendell Steavenson, a former Time magazine correspondent in Iraq, The Situation might have been conceived as a semiautobiographical drama but it too often veers into Jackie Collins territory, presenting ridiculously one-dimensional romantic entanglements against a landscape of violence and chaos. Not recommended. (P. Hall)