Just finished watching “Three Kings” — the movie that first changed me from a weapon-loving child to a more sober, pacifistically inclined kid. Of course, it wasn’t the only factor in my little transformation (because even though I may be an impressionable person, I’m not exactly in the habit of having my life changed by Hollywood movies), but it was definitively the one I remember best.

Part of that is naturally connected to the style of the film. Not only is there a distinct (for a war/action movie) absence of wild, uncontrolled gun-fire, the film’s also shot in a way that really emphasises the consequences of the violence. Internal organs are shown as bullets tear through them, civilians are massacred in front of their families, and American soldiers stand helpless off to the side, most of the time unable to do anything.

However, a nice thing about the movie is that the soldiers (or most of them, anyway) — particularly Clooney and Ice Cube’s characters — doesn’t shy from changing their objectives. As Archie Gates puts it when Troy Barlow wants to leave the Iraqi refugees, “The necessities just changed.” Gates also claims that necessities are the most important thing in life, and I thought that the film reflected this idea; most of the characters’ actions can be understood in light of this. Such as the Iraqi soldiers, who apparently have no reason to oppose the Americans, until it is “revealed” that they’re scared shitless by Saddam, and that if they disobey orders, he’ll kill their families. “I joined the army for the extra money,” Captain Said says, “and now I cannot leave.”

Awesome movie. Just awesome. Disturbingly relevant for current events, too. 9.0/10.

Oh, and watching Ice Cube running around in what’s supposed to be Iraqi deserts at a time when he was more likely to run around in Compton, made me wanna listen to some NWA. So now “Fuck tha police” is erupting from my speakers. Neat-o.

A final “oh, and”: I’d really like to be a fly on the wall on a private screening of this movie for Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfield, Paul Wolfowitz, and the rest of the hawks. I think that’d be interesting.