Directed by Terence McSweeney, George Lee
Using films about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as examples, BLOWBACK explores how movies shape our understanding of the wars that are fought in our name.
For a huge number of people around the globe the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have become "America's story". Films like the Academy Award-winning The Hurt Locker (2009) and the commercially successful and culturally impactful American Sniper (2014) have made a substantial impact on how these wars have been shaped in the global cultural imaginary.
But what of films about these modern wars made outside of the United States? What of those narratives told by the Iraqis and Afghans themselves? Or of French, Turkish, German, Chinese, or Danish film-makers? How might these films contribute to a greater understanding of how the conflicts came to be viewed and remembered by cultures outside of "our own"?
Adopting a richly textured and dynamic approach, BLOWBACK: The 9/11 Wars in Global Film is an entertaining, educational and informative documentary that seeks to illuminate the potentialities and limits of national cinemas in the global age.
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