`BAGHDAD ER' CAPTURES GRISLY NATURE OF WAR.Byline: David Kronke Television Critic After offering full cooperation with documentarians Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill, the U.S. Army has since distanced itself from their resulting work, ``Baghdad ER Baghdad ER is a multiple Emmy Award-winning documentary released by HBO on May 21, 2006. It shows the Iraq war from the perspective of a military hospital in Baghdad and by that, illustrates what war really means. It has some relatively disturbing scenes in it (e.g. .'' Which is too bad, given that the film is a powerful testament to the courage and dedication of American soldiers and the surgeons who treat their injuries. (A title card reports that 90 percent of the soldiers wounded in Iraq survive, the highest survival rate in American military history.) Certainly, there are grisly images -- within the film's first two minutes, we see a severed arm being disposed of -- that will give viewers pause to consider the human cost of the war. The directors assiduously as·sid·u·ous adj. 1. Constant in application or attention; diligent: an assiduous worker who strove for perfection. See Synonyms at busy. 2. avoid editorializing, though watching soldiers and doctors react to the deaths of comrades is inevitably wrenching. One imagines that the Army understood how upsetting it would be for viewers to see gravely injured and dying Americans when they granted Alpert and O'Neill such extraordinary access. ``Baghdad ER'' essays the work of the 86th Combat Support Hospital as they treat soldiers wounded, largely by improvised explosive devices (IEDs). ``It's just sad,'' one doctor says of the terrorists' copious use of IEDs. ``Every day, a never-ending string of this sh--.'' The bravado of those injured is impressive: Asked if he saw the sniper, one soldier jokes, ``I was too busy rolling on the ground crying like a b----.'' Another burned by an IED Noun 1. IED - an explosive device that is improvised I.E.D., improvised explosive device explosive device - device that bursts with sudden violence from internal energy asks his buddy, ``Got beer?'' Likewise, the medics display gallows humor gallows humor, n a dark or morbid sense of humor unique to people who deal with suffering and tragedy—for example, patients who are terminally ill joking about their illness or death as a means of coping with the illness. while doing their jobs, which, one doctor explains, ``helps keep us sane.'' ``Cigar Night,'' also seems to help -- ``Closest thing to normalcy nor·mal·cy n. Normality. Noun 1. normalcy - being within certain limits that define the range of normal functioning normality as you're going to get here,'' one medic medic: see alfalfa. explains, though here, ``normal'' qualifies as enjoying a smoke on a rooftop and watching explosions in the distance. ``I purposefully have not counted how many deaths, people I've prayed over,'' says the 86th's chaplain. ``It would just be too overwhelming to me.'' David Kronke, (818) 713-3638 david.kronke(at)dailynews.com BAGHDAD ER - Three stars What: Documentary examining doctors treating soldiers in Iraq. Where: HBO Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) A form of oxygen therapy in which the patient breathes oxygen in a pressurized chamber. Mentioned in: Ozone Therapy . When: 8 tonight; also 11 p.m. Friday, 10 p.m. May 29, midnight May 31, 10 p.m. June 8. In a nutshell: A powerful testament to the courage and dedication of American soldiers and the surgeons who treat their injuries. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Maj. Gen. William Webster William Webster is the name of a number of notable people:
|
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion