Full Battle Rattle

Name: Full Battle Rattle
Genre: Documentary
Released: July 9, 2008
Duration: 85 min
Rating: 72

2008

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Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews

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Full Battle Rattle

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Movie Details & Credits

First Run Features | Release Date: July 9, 2008

Summary: Full Battle Rattle is the story of a real war and a fake town. In California’s Mojave Desert, the US Army has built a “virtual Iraq”—a billion dollar urban warfare simulation--and populated it with hundreds of Iraqi role-players. Army units spend three weeks inside the simulation before deploying to Iraq. Blurring the boundary between factFull Battle Rattle is the story of a real war and a fake town. In California’s Mojave Desert, the US Army has built a “virtual Iraq”—a billion dollar urban warfare simulation--and populated it with hundreds of Iraqi role-players. Army units spend three weeks inside the simulation before deploying to Iraq. Blurring the boundary between fact and fiction, horrific and hilarious, Full Battle Rattle follows an Army Battalion through the simulation, as they attempt to quell an insurgency and prevent Medina Wasl, a mock Iraqi village, from slipping into civil war. (Mile End Films)… Expand

Director: Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber

Genre(s): Documentary

Runtime: 85 min

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Critic Reviews

100

TV Guide Magazine Ken Fox

The title, by the way, is age-old slang for a soldier's complete combat gear, which for the U.S. soldiers in Iraq -- both real and otherwise -- weighs over 50 pounds. Read full review

Noel Murray

Full Battle Rattle works just fine as a two-fisted combat story, with unexpected bursts of violence peppering that old universal message that war is hell. Read full review

A.O. Scott

Gives a remarkably thorough and detailed account of the difficult conditions facing American soldiers in Iraq. Read full review

V.A. Musetto

It is up to each viewer to decide if the Mojave project is a stroke of genius or a very expensive boondoggle. Read full review

David Edelstein

The film is freaky, amusing, and sickening in equal measures—part fly-on-the-wall vérité, part multiple-perspective Altmanesque tragicomedy. Read full review

J. Hoberman

Set off by sprightly graphics and shimmering with over-bright colors, Full Battle Rattle has a fake transparency. The movie arouses, without gratifying, a desire to see the camera. Read full review

Kirk Honeycutt

It's all a bit bizarre. One soldier tellingly calls it "one big reality TV show," and the movie never makes clear whether such training does any good. Read full review

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User Reviews

LindaB.

Jul 11, 2008

This was a realistic simulation of how our troops are prepared here, in the desert, to fight in Iraq. There are light touches, and some great lines. We see the soldiers in charge in the desert, then at home with their families, and then leaving heir families when it's time to be This was a realistic simulation of how our troops are prepared here, in the desert, to fight in Iraq. There are light touches, and some great lines. We see the soldiers in charge in the desert, then at home with their families, and then leaving heir families when it's time to be deployed. You see - and feel their emotions. It is not a political, or government bashing film. It is insight as to what our men and women are experiencing and sacrificing to protect freedom. A must see.… Expand

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jerry

Jul 14, 2008

A brilliant doc that is pro-life in the best sense of that word. Not anti-Iraq war or pro-Iraq war...but against killing in any sort of war.

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