Documentary: 'Occupation: Dreamland'

Filmmakers embed with the U.S. Army in Iraq to find out 'what the hell is going on?'

Note: This is the third in a series of special documentary features on the Hot Zone. We'll be posting interviews with filmmakers along with excerpts from their films, which reflect some of the themes and issues covered on this site. Bookmark the Hot Zone and be sure to check back in the coming days for more. 

In 2004, filmmaking team Garrett Scott and Ian Olds traveled to the Middle East with one goal: try to make sense of what was happening in

The two men embedded with the 82nd Airborne division of the U.S. Army, living in "Dreamland" — the forward operating base for the unit, named after a former Baath party resort in the area.

During their embed, Scott and Olds captured a very real look at what it means for soldiers to be an occupying force in a foreign country.

Over the next few days, the Hot Zone will feature select scenes from "Occupation: Dreamland." We'll also run an interview with filmmaker Ian Olds where we discuss not only his documentary, but also the death of his filmmaking partner, Garrett Scott, who died of a heart attack shortly after "Occupation Dreamland" was finished.

The trailer for "Occupation: Dreamland" and excerpts from our interview with Olds are below.

Play this Video

 

HOT ZONE: What gave you and Garrett the idea to make this film?  

IAN OLDS: Both Garrett and I felt that the world was even more of a different place after the invasion of Iraq than after Sept. 11th.

To me it seemed like new war, new kinds of consequences. It was the idea of a preemptive war and all of that, but there was a real sense that we had, sort of a simple question of, "What the hell is going on?"

At the same time, we became aware of this embedding program that was in place. So it was that simple question and the realization that that program existed. We also thought that it wasn't being taken advantage of in a lot of ways. We saw it was being used by people for news broadcasts but they had different constraints and different obligations than filmmakers have in terms of the turn around of stories.

We wanted to see if we could go in and see the war first-hand from the perspective of the soldiers. Also, we felt that people often represent soldiers in terms of why they do what they do, but no one really seemed to be asking them adult questions and actually seeing what they do and what they think about what they do.

HOT ZONE: How did you get connected to these soldiers and why did you go to Fallujah?

IAN OLDS: Since we were completely independent, when we got there, we couldn't set up anything through the

We ended up not being able to get into where we planned to be, which was with this unit in Baghdad following the National Guard. We ended up instead on a three-day embed with these guys out in Fallujah. At that point, Fallujah was known in Iraq as sort of the hottest spot but hadn't yet been put on the map back in the States.

We were there for three days and then it was literally a process of asking if we could stay longer. We stayed a couple more weeks and then a couple more and the higher-ups really never got too much into what we were doing. They asked us what our plan was and we told them we're doing "a day in the life of American soldiers." Because the squad we were with seemed to like us and we weren't getting in their way, they let us stay. So the guys we ended up with, we were assigned to them.

I think one of the things that is striking about the film, I hope, is the kind of intimacy with the soldiers and that was achieved because of how long we could be there; we were there for six weeks with them.

HOT ZONE: The film is incredibly intimate. I was surprised about the kinds of things the soldiers were comfortable saying on camera. There was one scene where the men are involved in a heated conversation about politics, and in another they speak really openly about their plans to not re-enlist. How did you get them to open up so much?

IAN OLDS: It was fascinating. It happened in several ways. One, because we were there for a longer period of time, we didn't have the problem that many news reporters who are there for maybe a week or so have. They have to turn stories around really fast, so they start out asking really pointed questions. We didn't do that, because we had more time, so we just spent time hanging out with them. When we broached certain subjects early on, sometimes they would get a little defensive, so we would just put that subject away for a while and watch TV with them for a week.

Also, they knew we were a documentary, and we told them it wouldn't be released for at least a year and a half. Some of the guys knew they would be out of the army by then and had things that they had been wanting to say but felt they couldn't say to a news person because it would be in print or on TV the next day. They could get in trouble or get the people they were working with in trouble.

Again, because of the time thing, even people that might have been hesitant to speak changed. After we went out on a mission which involved some sort of a firefight or after a bomb went off, there was certainly some kind of bond there; we were experiencing what they went through - at least a small fraction of it - so there was a trust that developed around. The thing is if you are around people long enough, people can't just keep up their walls for so long.

They were really smart and savvy guys though. One of them came to us at the end and said, "I know that from all of the things that we have said you can screw us and we ask that you don't."

So they were very conscious of that possibility, but they ended up all being very happy with the film.

To learn more about "Occupation: Dreamland" or to buy a copy of the DVD, visit the film's Web site here.

Email Story IM Story

RECOMMEND THIS STORY

Recommend It:

Not at All Somewhat Moderately Highly Very Highly

Average (Not Rated)

ALSO ON YAHOO!