Sundance Review: The Recruiter

For all the talk about putting a "human face" on the war in Iraq, there may be no better vehicle than The Recruiter, the devastating new documentary from director Edet Belzburg. Shot in Houma, Lousiana, over a period of nine months, the film follows Sergeant First Class Clay Usie -- a charismatic recruiter struggling in the face of nationwide opposition to the war -- as well as four of his teenage recruits. When the regretful father of one of those recruits notes that "old men start wars, young men fight them," he's only scratching at the surface of the dramatic inequality on display here. Though our Yale-educated, Connecticut-born president claims to be a man of the people, it's hard to imagine a single way he could relate to the poor, struggling residents of Houma, who see joining the military as their only way out of poverty.

Four, in particular, are profiled. Matt (a young Kevin Federline lookalike) wants to join the military to prove he'll never be like the alcoholic father who abandoned him, while David is an overweight teenager who can barely run two miles but, like Matt, idolizes Sgt. Usie -- the sort of encouraging father figure these boys never had. Meanwhile, honor student Bobby enters the military so overqualified that his recruiters can barely believe their luck, but Slipknot-loving lesbian Lauren bristles at her military-enforced makeover. For Lauren, the military is her only ticket to college, and this budding artist will do anything to get there -- until she runs up against the very real conflicts of "don't ask, don't tell."

To watch these young people of seventeen and eighteen grapple with the enormity of their decisions -- and their looming, inevitable stints in Iraq -- inspires dread, not patriotism. As Matt prepares to leave his single mom and Sgt. Usie behind to begin training, his placid face contorts, trying to hold back unfamiliar tears. These are teenagers who barely understand their own emotions, let alone the war they are being shipped off to fight and die for. When four Louisiana National Guardsmen perish in Iraq, Usie attends the funeral and begins to recruit the pre-teen brother of one of the dead. For Usie, who is fighting against record-low recruiting levels, there is no other choice. Sadly, for the young boy with no prospects in run-down Houma, there may be no other option, either.

Comments

[niceguytx]

This really IS an interesting film sure to provoke discussion. Your review hits it right on the head...puts a human face on things without getting too preachy on either side. Hope it gets some distribution so people across the country can see it, think about it and discuss it.