The War Tapes
2006, 97 minutes
Directed by Deborah Scranton
Straight from the front lines in Iraq, The War Tapes is the first war movie filmed by soldiers fighting in the war. This documentary depicts Operation Iraqi Freedom as filmed by Sergeant Steve Pink, Sergeant Zack Bazzi, and Specialist Mike Moriarty, among others. The soldiers shot over eight hundred hours of footage during the course of a year, providing the viewer with an unromanticized picture of their lives in the midst of war. The resulting film presents raw portraits of its three main contributors, as they fulfill and struggle to understand their duty. Steve is a wisecracking carpenter who aspires to be a writer. Zack is a Lebanese-American university student who loves to travel and is fluent in Arabic. Mike is a father and resolute patriot who rejoined the army after 9/11. Each of these men has left behind a woman—a girlfriend, a mother, and a wife. The film, directed by Deborah Scranton, and produced by Robert May (The Fog Of War) and Steve James (Hoop Dreams), won awards for Best Documentary at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, and Best International Documentary at the inaugural 2006 BritDoc Festival.
Director’s Statement
We all have pivotal, defining moments in our lives. For me, one of those was stumbling across James Agee and Walker Evan’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Agee’s philosophy of “living journalism”—of getting close enough to be hurt, of investing to the core of your being in the lives of those you are documenting—became my mantra. To get their stories, you have to give of yourself, confront the wall of “objectivity,” and smash through it. It’s about being human first, and a journalist and filmmaker second. It is only when we are human beings first that we can approach truth.
On February 12, 2004, I received an offer from the New Hampshire National Guard to embed as a filmmaker. I called the public affairs officer and asked if I could give cameras to the soldiers instead. He said yes—but it would be up to me to get soldiers to volunteer to work on the project. Less than two weeks later, I was on a plane to Fort Dix, New Jersey. I stepped out in front of those 180 men and shared my vision. I was met with a hailstorm of questions. Are you for the war?
