Amid the continuing deluge of documentaries about the war in Iraq, Patricia Foulkrod’s film “The Ground Truth” stands out as an especially pointed indictment of the American military’s treatment of its own people on and off the battlefield.
The film also addresses deeper questions about modern methods of creating efficient soldiers and their long-term consequences. It asks: how could anyone imagine that the intensive molding of human beings into killing machines wouldn’t affect the rest of their lives? . . . .One soldier after another recalls being encouraged by senior officers not to distinguish between civilians and the enemy. The film’s most gung-ho marine, who went to Iraq for the thrill of combat, recalls his personal turning point: when he killed an Iraqi woman who was approaching his tank only to discover afterward that she was clutching a white flag. Another tells of being screamed at by an Iraqi civilian carrying his brother’s head, which had just been blown off.