BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire's Edge

BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire's Edge was released in 2004, and received the Silver Hugo Award for documentaries at the 2004 Chicago International Film Festival.[1] It aired on Showtime and was released on DVD by Home Vision. The film follows the story of Frank al-Bayati, a former Shiite guerrilla traveling back to Iraq for the first time since the 1991 uprising against Saddam Hussein. Al-Bayati was wounded, captured, tortured and then escaped. He spent more than a year in a Saudi Arabian refugee camp before being repatriated to the U.S. Lappé and Marshall follow al-Bayati as he tracks down his family members and capture the emotional reunions. Al-Bayati's optimism for what he calls "liberated Iraq" is countered by the reality the filmmakers find on the ground. A growing insurgency is creating more enemies than it is killing. With candid interviews with top American commanders, the filmmakers capture the U.S. military's inability to grasp the nature of their enemy. In addition, Lappé and Marshall bring a Geiger counter and conduct their own radiation tests on Iraqi armor that has been hit by American shells. They find evidence of the use of depleted uranium, the controversial radioactive metal used in some American munitions.

BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire's Edge
Directed byStephen Marshall
Produced byLisa Kawamoto Hsu
Anthony Lappé
Jeff Hull executive producer
Ian Inaba executive producer
Bob Jason executive producer
Robert Kravitz executive producer
Joshua Shore executive producer
Stephen Marshall executive producer
StarringSgt. Robert Hollis
Rana al Aiouby
Farhan al Bayati
Hesham Barbary
Raed Jarrar
Col. Fred Rudesheim
Lt. Col. Nate Sassaman
May Ying Welsh
CinematographyStephen Marshall
Edited byLeo Cullen
Stephen Marshall
Music bySoulsavers
Distributed byGuerrilla News Network
Artists/Media Cooperation (Co.Op)
Release date
  • October 14, 2004 (2004-10-14)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The film was directed by Stephen Marshall, and produced by Anthony Lappé and Lisa Hsu.

Plot

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Cast

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Chicago International Turns 40; Stellar World Cinema and Oscar Contenders Strive to Lift Fest out of Regional Ghetto". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
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