Having switched from documentaries to dramatisation in 2006's Ghosts, Nick Broomfield continues in this vein with an account of what might have happened in the episode that ended with the killing of 24 Iraqis, including women and children, in Haditha on November 19, 2005. US marines were in some way responsible for these deaths, but beyond that, the truth is hard to discern (the case is still being investigated by the US army), so it's annoying that the film gives us no idea of where it uses attested information and where it only surmises. Evidently, Broomfield was chiefly concerned to evoke the hellishness of life in Iraq, as experienced both by Iraqis and by frightened, exhausted soldiers. For what was presumably a project without a huge budget, the recreation of a war zone is impressive, partly because the marines are played by former soldiers, yet it is not convincing enough to grab you by the guts. (As well as touring cinemas, the film will be shown on Channel 4 in March.)
15, 96 mins