Evan Wright's Blog, page 3

Restrepo

Best film on war I have seen in a theater. It is a documentary, but has the emotional power of a feature film. Having been in combat and having been in Afghanistan with an Army platoon (before I went to Iraq) I felt Restrepo captured it all very well.

I cannot compare Restrepo to Generation Kill miniseries since I co-wrote the scripts and was involved in the production and therefore have no objectivity. But I will say if you liked Gen Kill miniseries or found it informative, you will probably like Restrepo. It's about a different war and it uses real footage (not actors and sets) but goes after some of the same truths about a small band of troops that we were pursuing in Gen Kill.

While Hurt Locker was a good action film, I saw few truths in it about war, or the war in Iraq. The actions of the soldiers in Hurt Locker were mostly ridiculous and unrealistic. (I do like the scene in Hurt where Jeremy Renner returns home and has a sort of epiphany at the supermarket that he doesn't fit in to the civilian world. That's the one scene that clicked for me.) Though I didn't feel Hurt was a good war film, the article which inspired it--"The Man in the Bomb Suit" by screenwriter Mark Boal--is solid journalism.

I hope that the public does connect with Restrepo. People in the US are pretty disconnected from what's going on in Afghanistan. They have opinions, but often little understanding of the war that their nation is fighting (and in which Afghans and Europeans, as well as Americans, are shedding their blood for every day). Restrepo could help redress that ignorance. It's also a fine piece of art.

http://www.ifc.com/news/2010/06/doc-d...

Hella Portland

http://portland.readinglocal.com/2010...

Hella Nation on CNN

http://www.snackfeed.com/videos/detai...

Dark, untamed America.

Hella Nation on C-Span

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/28...

Fresh Fante

Dan Fante, author of Mooch, Chump Change and other astonishing L.A. novels, interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air. He shocks. He amuses. He weeps:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...

Awesome

Not sure whether this guy is the ideal fan or ideal subject to write about. Either way, he is awesome:

http://www.wooooomag.com/?p=1428

Hella Bad Dreams

http://awornpath.blogspot.com/2009/10...

Answer to Priscilla

Priscilla, thanks for asking what I have been up to. I have been slammed with projects all through Summer and Fall--film script for Peter Berg and a project for Putnam we are calling a memoir on brainwashing. (This is a project I began in 2002 between trips to Afghanistan and Iraq, and is really central to all of my writing; I originally outlined this book when I was 16 years old.) More on that one later.

Earlier this Summer I spent as many evenings as I could with Iranian pro-democracy protestors in Westwood. Their cause is my cause...and near the site of the Westwood protests there are some amazing Persian restaurants. Fascinating discussions there post-protests, and some of the best food in the world.

Also, have been developing a website to which I will post more in future, linked with Goodreads, of course.

I have been reading some books recommended by my nephews which I will post about soon.

Hella Flavorwire

http://flavorwire.com/22019/exclusive...

Hella Millions (link updated)

http://www.themillions.com/2009/06/ev...