Trapped: The Iraq War Veteran on Film

Like many members of the moviegoing public, I didn't rush to see Home of the Brave (2006), In the Valley of Elah (2007), Redacted (2007), Grace Is Gone (2007), A Mighty Heart (2007), Badland (2007), or any of the other feature films that deal with the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Many of these films spent scant weeks in the theaters and made almost no money. Only In the Valley of Elah was praised by critics (mostly owing to Tommy Lee Jones’ performance) and did reasonably well at the box office, earning just over $6.5 million.

The war in Iraq has dragged on against popular expectations, and media accounts have varied little over the last few years, regularly reporting assassinations, roadside explosions, and car bombs in public places, among other dire developments that make any kind of success difficult to imagine. Sitting through a film about Iraq was not high on my list or, apparently, on anyone else’s, of things to do.