Half way through Paul Greengrass’ political thriller Green Zone I thought that the only way this movie is going to end with any credibility is for the character played by Matt Damon (Roy Miller) to be either killed or sentenced by a military tribunal.
This being a mainstream blockbuster, I knew that neither of these was ever going to happen. To say that Miller bends the rules in his attempt to restore the moral authority of the U.S. forces in Bagdad is an understatement.
The Hurt Locker was criticised for inaccuracy but to a layman like me the scenes looked realistic. The suspension of disbelief required in Green Zone is just too much.
I don’t say this because I disagree with the premise of the movie. The deceit of the US government in maintaining the lie that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction is to my mind not an interpretation of recent events but a matter of record. The extent of the conspiracy is a matter of conjecture but I don’t think Greengrass over eggs it in suggesting that some Iraqi figures were targeted because they could reveal some inconvenient truths about the true motives for the war against terror.
What I object to here is how everything is pitched in gung-ho terms of one individual against the system. It is frankly an insult to the intelligence of the audience to expect us to believe this one man (with no superpowers) could challenge and outwit his superiors so brazenly and take decisions / actions so autonomously without facing consequences.
