At first glance, The Ground Truth seems like just another post-9/11 documentary: a belligerent anti-war campaign legitimized by distressing images of the dead. But this film removes itself from that categorization by denigrating war not as a political concept, but as the source of the deepest and most personalized affronts to human morality.
The documentary achieves this humanistic level by featuring individual soldiers stationed in the Middle East who in some cases lost not only limbs but also their peace of mind. The interviews repeatedly steer toward the ambiguity of the the soldiers' purpose and their shame in murdering civilians.
Still, most of those interviewed avoid talking about their personal hardships and focus their energy on exposing the military's less-than-picturesque intent of turning soldiers into murderers.
In one instance, a veteran recites a jingle that involves the not so innocent subject of murder in Iraqi schoolhouses. One often hears about the military's dehumanization of the "enemies," but to witness this adopted brutality in a self-confession by a soldier is surreal and shocking to say the least.
What sets this film apart is the attention to the individual soldier. The Ground Truth focuses on the human element of war, making it not only a genuine examination of the situation in Iraq, but a mode by which we can understand the mentality of the citizen turned soldier.
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