This almost forgotten short film directed by Jonathan Darby owes its audience due to an early presence of Brad Pitt as one of its
stars and because it was Oscar nominated in the Short Film category. It has one of those classic premises that hard to go wrong, and Mr. Darby
succeeds in almost everything he set out to do with the conflict between two soldiers during the Iraq War who had to join forces in order
to survive potential attacks from each other or their unit commands (American and Iraqi) that might appear in the area. It's almost the Oscar
winning film "No Man's Land" but without the dominating political overtone.
Pitt plays the talkative American solider, and Elias Koteas plays the Iraqi fighter. Without a common language, it's up to gestures, the
use of objects or their guns, that they find ways to communicate with each other, find a safe place in the desert and see if they won't kill each
other over simple mistakes. The tension dominates the story and their environment, but it also comes with some humored bits, of nervous
moments from both parties (Pitt stumbling inside the shelter which makes the other man laughs like crazy). It's very easy to get involved with its little storyline, which revolves about survival and an unexpected friendship
that proves that the human element can overcome a state of war and rivalry. Pitt is okay, Koteas is always amazing to watch, even though he
barely speaks.
The only problem is the music score, with those early 90's syntehsizers/drum machines that made it all look awfully dated, pretty
much like those direct-to-video films released in the period. 9/10.
