Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

magnuslhad All films are the end product of someone's subjective bias. Who you give voice to, who you leave out, who you demonize, who you valorize - it's all subjective. What is authentic and closer to objectivity is a process where you make ethical, humanist choices. BfH does this by showing more than one side, having the Arab character's speak in their own voice, and suggesting culpability lies not only with individuals, but with political and ideological processes. The absurdity of having young, ill-informed, emotional Americans on the frontline of a battle they do not understand and are not invested in is clearly depicted. War was ever thus. The culpability of the viewer is also raised, in our mindless acceptance of the official view of these events that is heavily manipulated. It also asks us to read again films like 'Black Hawk Down' and question their simplistic propaganda message. The filmmaker's docudrama approach is straightforward and effective. Battle for Haditha is a difficult watch, but perhaps a necessary one to understand how we in the West have ended up in our current messed up times.

Robert J. Maxwell Two Iraqi ideologues blow up a Humveee with an IED and rush away to safety. The Marines retaliate by bashing their way through the nearby houses and "shooting everything that moves." A dozen or more innocents are killed on the spot. The result of the Americans' actions is dutifully filmed by al Qaeda agents and used as recruiting material. The Marine corporal in charge of the engagement is at first applauded for his leadership and recommended for promotion and a decoration and then, when the incident hits the American press, brought up on multiple charges of murder.It's a tough movie to watch. It's not preachy, although all points of view are presented, but the harsh irony is a bit much to bear. In many ways the most emblematic scene has an innocent young man running down a hill in the simmering and smoky aftermath of the shoot out. He's searching for his wife. But the Marines gun him down from a hundred yards away because, after all, what is an Iraqi man doing running at a time like this? It's at the least suspicious.But then his wife arrives, screaming, and throws herself on the dead body. Ramirez, who is leading the fire team, approaches her with his rifle ready and shouts at her to move away from the body. She doesn't understand English and he speaks no Arabic. The wife finally flings herself at Ramirez and begins beating his shoulders and for a moment it seems that she will be killed as well.That seems, to me anyway, to be the message of the film. Murky but powerful forces can bring together people who simply don't understand each other and the result is a blood bath.The Marines we meet are brash but sympathetic figures. True, they are kind of dumb, but then many of us are pretty dumb when it comes to situations like this. One leader calls the insurgents "cowards" because they hide among the women and children. The men may or may not know why they are in Iraq but it's not their job to know. Their job is to define the enemy and kill him.Complications arise when the "enemy" blends insensibly into the "innocent civilians." A woman or an adolescent child can carry a rifle or an explosive as easily as a fully grown man.Disregarding values and ideology, that problem is common to all armies of occupation. The Germans had similar problems in occupied countries like France, Yugoslavia, and Greece. And, like the Marines in Iraq, the insurgents were a disparate group drawn from different ideologies, some more extreme than others. The core of the Greek resistance, for example, wasn't al Qaeda -- it was the communists. And, as in Iraq, resistance from extremists was met with retaliation against ordinary citizens by the Germans.This isn't an expensive epic of a movie. It's not "Blackhawk Down" or anything. The production values are lower than that. And I understand it doesn't stick to historical fact. Some of the acting is weak and the dialog contrived. I don't believe any U. S. Marine has ever said, "I'll be haunted by this guilt for the rest of my life." The story isn't easily described as "sad" despite the numerous murders. "Tragic" is a better descriptive. The "bad guys" here aren't so much the Marines, or the active insurgents for that matter. It's the configuration of values and political decisions that have brought these two forces together in a state of conflict.

logain78 I put watching this movie off for so long because I basically knew I was going to have mixed feelings about it. This movie means a little more to me (and my family) than most people seeing I am a sibling of someone depicted in the movie. Granted this was just a movie and everyone is entitled to their opinion...it just upset me to see how my sibling was depicted in the film. From knowing my sibling, the director wasn't even close. Pretty sure he would feel the same way if someone depicted one of his family members incorrectly just to make a buck. I find exploiting horrible events to make money disturbing and disgusting. Movie says (synopsis of movie on back of the DVD case) that it was told from different perspectives...I want to know where my sibling and his comrades perspectives were in this movie?! Sigh..some will do anything and everything to make a name for themselves.

jburnes-1 The fact that the maker of this film is used to making documentaries should have ABSOLUTELY NO BEARING on this particular film. As many other comments show, there are a ton of errors. In my opinion, the largest is calling this a "docudrama" because it is patently NOT true in almost every aspect. The Marines that this film pretends to portray were acquitted of all charges, but the film doesn't take this into account as it was produced prior to the situation being resolved. It totally ignores this fact and portrays the Marines as sloppy, paranoid hotheads with no organization or training. The Marines should be able to sue this film for slander. It would be one thing if this film were advertised as COMPLETE fiction, but they sell you a bill of goods when they make the claim that it is "based on actual events". The only "actual events" it is based on is the fact that a war is going on in Iraq and that there is actually a town named Haditha. Beyond that, it is reaching. This is the first film I have ever felt the need to comment on and I am doing so because I was completely offended by the portrayal of the Marines and I want prospective viewers to be aware. I also don't believe anyone involved with this film should make another dime from slandering our service men in this way. To profit from that is completely reprehensible. I have never had the privilege of serving but I know men who have served and men who still do and I pray they never have to bear witness to a movie such as this. These men do an honorable job and to portray them in this light is simply pissing on the freedom that they purchase for us with their blood. To leave any audience with the impression that this chain of events was not only possible but did happen is most irresponsible. I have never seen this man's documentaries and never will. If he is willing to not tell the whole story in this account while claiming it is based on actual events, then I can not trust him to tell the truth in his documentaries. Beyond that, I don't think it's artistic to make a fictional film in this shaky documentary style. Some call it "raw". I call it unfinished and shoddily put together. The production of this film could have been handled with a hand-held video camera and entry level editing software. Apparently he put just as little time into production as he put into researching the facts. This film goes to show that in film making, you really can get away with anything.