Hollywood Visuals Come to Iraq

A severe set-back in the Iraq war has been the indistinctive and visually difficult desert terrain -- the kind of terrain which held the movie Three Kings in the $60M range, barely recouping its $48M outlay --- while Vietnam era-set films become runaway blockbusters while feasting on jungle exteriors -- like Apooclypse Now, Platoon, and Good Morning, Vietnam! John Ford knew what to do with the American desert, but even his exteriors were most notable when there was something recognizable to focus on in the distance -- a rocky prominence, say. This leaves Hollywood in a bind -- you've seen one dusty road 20 miles out of Baghdad, and you've done the trip. Back to the hotel! So, what to do?

Well, the NYTimes has found the jungle exteriors!

Seems there are a few rivers in Iraq on which patrol boats can wade. Sure, we've known the coastline is always there (hey, do Iraqis surf?), but there can't be any filmic-based introspection unless a visually stunning metaphor for spiritual journey runs through it. Even Mark Twain knew you've got to go up river, down river, or down to the river to get the skin of the story onto weighty moral bones -- and now that the US military has found the rivers in Iraq, we can expect the movies to come.