On Tuesday night I went to a screening and discussion of Meeting Resistance dowtown at CSIS. It is a powerful documentary by journalists Steve Connors and Molly Bingham that has won numerous awards throughout the world. It tells the stories of members of the armed resistance in Iraq following the collapse of the Hussein regime. This documentary was filmed in the first few months after the invasion, when there was still an opportunity for journalists to mix and mingle relatively safely with the local population. A project such as this could never be filmed today.
(As a side note, there was no meal served at this event, but they did provide popcorn and sodas which struck me as kind of strange. Sure it's a movie, but it was bizarre to have people in the audience chomping on popcorn while watching the stories of men and women who believe their purpose in life is to kill American soldiers)
The film is composed almost entirely of interviews (blurred, of course) of these insurgents telling how they became involved with the insurgency, what type of operations they carry out, and their general philosophy on life which is predominantly shaped by religion and nationalism. I feel films like these are important to humanize the enemy and understand their motivations. This by no means justifies their actions, but in the current "war on terror" or "long struggle" or whatever you want to call it, winning hearts and minds and understanding why people are influenced to do what they do is crucial to combat the violence and terrorism.
(As a side note, there was no meal served at this event, but they did provide popcorn and sodas which struck me as kind of strange. Sure it's a movie, but it was bizarre to have people in the audience chomping on popcorn while watching the stories of men and women who believe their purpose in life is to kill American soldiers)
The film is composed almost entirely of interviews (blurred, of course) of these insurgents telling how they became involved with the insurgency, what type of operations they carry out, and their general philosophy on life which is predominantly shaped by religion and nationalism. I feel films like these are important to humanize the enemy and understand their motivations. This by no means justifies their actions, but in the current "war on terror" or "long struggle" or whatever you want to call it, winning hearts and minds and understanding why people are influenced to do what they do is crucial to combat the violence and terrorism.
Hearing the directors speak after the film about their experiences was amazing. These journalists definitely put themselves out on the line to get the story in a dangerous war zone. Molly Bingham commented 
that she didn't know when she went into an interview if she would come out unharmed. Their experiences reminded me of another conflict journalist, Kevin Sites (right), who goes to great lengths to report to the world about war torn societies. Sites, who signed a contract with Yahoo! (who would have thought?), has a great multimedia website where he documents his experiences in conflict zones. A must see.
that she didn't know when she went into an interview if she would come out unharmed. Their experiences reminded me of another conflict journalist, Kevin Sites (right), who goes to great lengths to report to the world about war torn societies. Sites, who signed a contract with Yahoo! (who would have thought?), has a great multimedia website where he documents his experiences in conflict zones. A must see.To check out the website for Meeting Resistance, click here http://meetingresistance.com/
To check out Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone, click here http://hotzone.yahoo.com/
To check out Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone, click here http://hotzone.yahoo.com/
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