[antiwar-van] Fw: [stopwar_van] Review of Fallujah film to premiere Tuesday

[Paul Browning]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Derrick O'Keefe" <sankara83 at hotmail.com>
To: <sankara83 at hotmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 10, 2005 10:18 AM
Subject: [stopwar_van] Review of Fallujah film to premiere Tuesday


> 
> StopWar.ca presents the Vancouver premiere of
> 
> Fallujah 2004
> 
> Tuesday September 13, two showings, 7:30 and 9:00p.m.
> Pacific Cinematheque, 1131 Howe Street
> $5 at the door
> 
> A new documentary that chronicles the death and
> destruction within Fallujah caused by U.S. Forces in
> 2003 and 2004. Through eyewitness accounts, director
> Toshikuni DOI exposes a side of the U.S. war in Iraq
> not seen in mainstream media. (55 min)
> 
> A discussion will follow the movie.
> 
> contact at stopwar.ca
> 
> www.StopWar.ca
> 
> ***
> 
> A review of Fallujah 2004
> by Sonia Nettnin of Scoop
> 
> The documentary "Fallujah 2004," chronicles the death
> and destruction within Fallujah caused by U.S. Forces
> in April 2003 and April 2004.
> 
> Director Toshikuni DOI exposes the side of the U.S.
> war in Iraq that Americans do not see or hear in
> mainstream media. Through eyewitness accounts, DOI
> provides a media outlet for Iraqis to express what
> U.S. Forces did to them. Moreover, the film
> investigates how the violence spawned anger toward the
> U.S. occupation.
> 
> On April 28, 2003, a group of approximately 100 Iraqis
> in Fallujah demonstrated for the withdrawal of U.S.
> troops, who occupied a local school in Fallujah. The
> city - located 60 kilometers west of Baghdad - has
> 300,000 people who are mostly Sunni Arab.
> 
> U.S. Forces fired at the demonstrators with machine
> guns and killed 17 people. An eyewitness points to
> bullet holes on the walls of nearby buildings.
> 
> While a man balances on wooden crutches he shows what
> remains of his right leg. It was cut off at the knee
> because of a gunshot. When the shooting began, another
> man was shot in his house. His brother drove to the
> man's house to rescue him. Upon arrival U.S. forces
> shot the man's brother dead in the street. Then they
> shot his second brother, who suffers from severe
> injuries. When an ambulance arrived at the scene, U.S.
> Forces shot the vehicle also.
> 
> "We experienced a massacre by U.S. Forces," one man
> said. "We hate them they just kill people and we can't
> accept their ways." As a result, eight more people
> died in the following days.
> ADVERTISEMENT
> 
> Regardless of U.S. media reports about Fallujah, DOI's
> coverage of this tragic day was the root-cause of the
> violence in Fallujah. Throughout the year, people
> experienced basic utility shortages. For example,
> electricity runs a few hours a day. In a country where
> summer temperatures exceed 50 degrees Celsius, people
> sleep on rooftops. Even though the country's
> predominant resource is crude oil, people wait in gas
> lines for hours - if they can afford it.
> 
> On March 31, 2004 Iraqis killed four American
> contractors.
> 
> One man described how people cut the burning American
> bodies with shovels. DOI uses footage and photos of
> their desecrated bodies.
> 
> For the next 25 days, Fallujah experienced
> intermittent attacks. U.S. Forces bombed the northwest
> of Fallujah, the Julan District the worst. Building
> rubble surrounds the top of a mosque like a stone
> mote. One man points to the rubble of what was his
> home. He lost his two daughters: Wafa, six years-old
> and Zahra, four years-old.
> 
> While he holds a photograph of his late children, the
> camera zooms in and reveals their faces.
> 
> "Those are my daughter's dolls," he says as he points
> to a blond-haired doll covered with soot - propped
> against the remnants of a wall.
> 
> He shows another photograph of his late wife, Enad, 25
> years-old. The bomb that dropped on their house cut
> off her legs and pelted shrapnel into her head. Two
> days later, she died.
> 
> The man's face quivers; he holds back tears and his
> hands shake.
> 
> In the Al-Askarey District, one woman, Sabiha, cries
> uncontrollably. Every time she looks at her lap she
> sees her late son, Rasul, eight years-old. During the
> siege the family tried to escape, but a U.S. sniper
> shot her son in the head with two bullets. It blew off
> his skull and he fell into his mother's lap.
> 
> Her daughter suffered the same death in the car.
> Sabiha replays the day in her mind, indicative of
> post-traumatic stress disorder.
> 
> "I can just pray to Allah," she says while she dabs
> her eyes with her wet handkerchief.
> 
> On April 6, 2004, the third day of the siege, another
> house in the Julan District had 31 family members.
> During the attack, relatives of the homeowner sought
> refuge in his house because he lived in a section away
> from the bombing. While women chatted and their
> children slept, a bomb dropped on the house. It killed
> 30 people.
> 
> "I was the only survivor," one man said. "I lost my
> whole family."
> 
> He points to a baby bottle covered with dirt. In the
> rubble is a woman's scorched scalp with long, black
> hair.
> 
> The director captures victim's testimonies with
> extraordinary detail. DOI interviewed a range of
> people and he gives them the space to share their
> views. The translation of testimonies from Arabic to
> English subtitles flows smoothly. The text translation
> of eyewitness accounts is clear and concise.
> 
> While Iraqis tell their life accounts the director
> uses street maps of Fallujah, to orient viewers
> geographically.
> 
> I recommend this documentary to people who want to
> know what happened in Fallujah and how the U.S.
> occupation of Iraq affects the country's people.
> 
> The film is 55 minutes in length and free of media
> spin.
> 
> Read full review: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0507/S00344.htm
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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