A Piece of the Pie

Rating: 8/10 (28 May 2017)

I've watched a large number of war and military movies over the years and after spending 36 months at war myself, I'll say that from my experience there has never been a movie, series, or otherwise that has managed to capture "war" or the "military" in its entirety because individual experiences vary. I will say that occasionally, a movie or show comes around that captures one of the facets accurately. Unfortunately, the value or worth of a movie or show isn't based on capturing a facet of reality, it's based on ratings. It's based on theatrical engagement. And that's OK I guess, because I get that it's an industry. But for me, the value of this movie isn't the plot line or how over-the-top Pitt was in his character development, it's the fact that War Machine captures the relationship between the military and government officials in a very real way. I was in Iraq during this period of time, and the release of the "Karzai 12" in Afghanistan, and how it in turn affected our rules of engagement in Iraq, came flooding back to me as this movie progressed. I was incredibly angry at the situation, similar to Andy Moon's response (only with less Rambo flare). To that point, I was glad I took the time to watch it, if for nothing more than seeing that the story got told. This movie is a slightly better than mediocre movie with some powerful moments that I'll watch once and reference only for its ability to accurately capture this one facet of war.