Baghdad ER (2006)
NETFLIX SYNOPSIS: Filmmakers Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill capture the gruesome realities of the conflict in Iraq — along with the human spirit’s resiliency — in this unsettling HBO documentary. Recorded over a two-month period in 2005, the video follows the U.S. Army’s medical personnel at the 86th Combat Support Hospital (inside Baghdad’s “Green Zone”) as they battle tirelessly to save wounded soldiers … who just keep coming. Not for the fainthearted.
REVIEW: This is a short and solid documentary about a Combat Support Hospital serving our armed forces in Iraq. For those concerned about political agendas, fear not; this documentary is relatively free of politics and pro- or anti-war sentiments. The focus instead is on the medical personnel who deal with the daily trauma cases caused mainly by insurgent explosives. Some survive. Some don’t. Non-life-threatening cases are generally moved to Germany for surgery but you’ll still see graphic images of amputations, various mutilations and wounds, and, the one that really got me, stitches in an eyeball (the soldier’s vision was saved). Although political rhetoric is kept to a minimum, the bravery and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform rings through loud and clear.
4 stars
HAWK
