BATTLE FOR HADITHA

UK/2007/English and Arabic dialogue with English subtitles/Colour/HDCAM/93 mins

This is a fictionalised account of notorious real-life events in the Iraq war in November 2005, when US Marines massacred a group of Iraqi civilians, told in searing and immediate documentary style. Drawn quickly into the evolving action, we cut back and forth between three groups: the Marine platoon led by Corporal Ramirez (Elliot Ruiz, himself a war veteran, as are several of the other actors), the Haditha family who will become victims in their own home, and two insurgents planning the attack on the marines that will lead in turn to the revenge killings.

“Nick Broomfield brings a wealth of documentary experience to this, his third venture into fiction. Cross-cutting between the three sets of characters, he creates powerful, suspenseful drama. Far removed from Hollywood-ised dramatisations of the Iraq war, the totally realistic, almost newsreel shooting style allows Battle for Haditha to convey, like few other films, a sense of how it feels for people on all sides of this tragic conflict. While creating a seamlessly convincing world of ‘powerful, devastating immediacy’ (Hollywood Reporter), Broomfield also draws out the war’s politics and contradictions – involving us in the drama and making us think.” – Simon Field

Contains strong war violence

Starring : Elliot Ruiz, Falah Abraheem Flayeh, Yasmine Hanani, Duraid A. Ghaieb, Eric Mehalacopoulos
Director(s) :

Nick Broomfield

NICK BROOMFIELD was born in 1948 in London and studied law at the University of Essex and political science at Cardiff University before training at England’s National Film and Television School. His feature documentaries include Driving Me Crazy (1988), Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992), Tracking Down Maggie (1994), Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam (1995), Fetishes (1996), Kurt and Courtney (1997) and Biggie and Tupac (2002). His previous narrative features are Diamond Skulls (1989) and Ghosts (2006).
Crew : Marc Hoeferlin(Scriptwriter), Anna Telford(Scriptwriter), Mark Wolf(Cinematographer), Ash Jenkins(Editor), Stuart Gazzard(Editor), Nick Laird-Clowes(Composer)
Format : Colour/HDCAM
Running Time : 93 mins
Country : United Kingdom
Programme : The Cinema of the World
Venue : Souk Madinat Theatre, Souk Madinat Theatre, Grand Cineplex 3, Grand Cineplex 3
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