Baghdad ER

Having worked at the "Baghdad ER" I think this is an outstanding film. When I first saw it I was just sure it would be sensationalistic and exploitative. I was wrong. This film does have its graphic moments but is nowhere near as graphic as it could have been. Initially I also thought that the film would be anti-war. As I watched the film I was pleasantly surprised to note that it had no political message whatsoever. The film has no narrator and the only words are those spoken by the people actually in the documentary from Medics and nurses to physicians and the patients themselves. The film will, therefore, be different things to different people depending on who watches it and in what frame of mind. One person could call it anti-war where another could call it propaganda. I believe it to be neither and the mark of a great documentary. As a physician in the Army I was uplifted by this film realistically showing the work we do in Iraq and elsewhere in support of our front line soldiers. This film shows this beautifully and should be seen by everyone. The compassion for the soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and civilians treated at the CSH is real and happens there every hour of every day.

Friendly helpful people, who give candies to Iraqi children are targeted by some crazy Iraqis. We follow the daily lives of professional medics who work tirelessly to save lives of American soldiers. They do not seem to be too much interested in sharing why they do it, some do it for money, some do it and hope the carnage they witness will bring a positive change in the world and especially in Iraq.

The movie nicely skips the fact that the US was a brutal occupying force in Iraq which invaded the country on a false pretense of having a Weapon of a mass destruction and teaches us to empathize solely with an oppressor.

This hour-long film documents the day-to-day activities of a US Armed Forces field hospital in Baghdad, with often very graphic, disturbing images. This unit sees an unending stream of carnage, both injured US service men and women, most of whom are very young, as well as Iraqi civilians; all are swept up in the vicious internecine struggles and the violent resistance to the US-led occupation of Iraq. The film highlights the humanity and dedication of the hardworking doctors and nurses of the unit amid the utter chaos of the occupation and the long-simmering civil war; it brings home the tragic impact of this ill-conceived military adventure on the lives of ordinary individuals.

Perhaps the most moving moment of the documentary are the words of an army chaplain next to the body of a fallen soldier whose life the doctors were unable to save: "We hope that his life and his death will hasten the cause of peace -- and this senseless war and violence will end".

I rated it 10 the efforts given by the doctors in the documentary. I'd give it 1 star for the complete and utter pointless waste of life . End all wars .

Baghdad ER is an extremely powerful film, and its impact amplified extremely effectively with its understated, straightforward storytelling. It communicates the tragedy of the latest Iraq war with some pretty graphic scenes, but it never becomes sensationalistic, or turns into a soapbox from which an anti- war or political message is delivered.

The doctors and nurses who work in this ER are total professionals. There's no fooling around a la M*A*S*H. Instead these men and women take on whatever broken and bleeding soldiers come to them via helicopter, day in and day out - mostly the mangled victims of IEDs, some of whom need an arm or leg amputated immediately, or instant chest surgery from shrapnel that has shredded lungs, bones, muscles and tendons. (And to the reviewer who commented that he was so 'Disappointed' in the movie because they only treat the "aggressors," there are scenes when Iraqi soldiers and civilians are brought in and treated by the medics, who are just as dedicated to saving their lives as those of Americans.)

Some casualties just don't make it, dying right on the gurney. And while the medical personnel are sad and disappointed, often cursing the "stupid, pointless war," they remain professional. Surviving soldiers don't always hold their emotions in, though, and who could blame them for breaking down after suddenly losing a friend, or a buddy with two arms or legs that have to be amputated.

There doesn't have to be a narrator to tell us that the soldiers who are severely wounded, whose lives will be changed forever, are someone's sons, friends, husbands, brothers, or fathers.

I'd like to sit with George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld while they watched "Baghdad ER." The film doesn't say it, but these three are war criminals. I don't know how they've lived with themselves since they sent so many good people to their deaths or caused them to suffer such life-changing injuries (and I'm talking about Americans AND Iraqis).