Welcome to Medina Wasl, a mock village at the U.S. Army's Iraq simulation training facility in California's Mojave Desert. Here, American soldiers fresh from service in Iraq are cast as insurgents, while real Iraqi exiles play civilians. Tension between soldiers and Iraqi role players, many recent immigrants, hangs thick in the air. Gunfire, explosions, night attacks and ambushes are skillfully scripted to reflect possible battle scenarios on the all-too-real frontlines. Bloodied dummies stand in for collateral damage. Death scenes and memorial services are simulated to enhance the soldiers' training. Filmmakers Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss offer a startling look at this most unusual "theatre of war" and the effects on its "actors." Full Battle Rattle moves from comic to surreal to poignant, and provides a dead-on allegory for 21st-century war and the play between make-believe and machismo that defines the American war machine.
-Angie Driscoll