The War Tapes

Straight from the front lines in Iraq, The War Tapes is the first war movie filmed by soldiers themselves.

Funnier, spicier, and more gut wrenching than any news report, this is Operation Iraqi Freedom as filmed by Sergeant Steve Pink, Sergeant Zack Bazzi and Specialist Mike Moriarty. Steve is a wisecracking carpenter who aspires to be a writer. Zack is a Lebanese-American university student who loves to travel and is fluent in Arabic. Mike is a father who seeks honor and redemption. Each leaves a woman behind – a girlfriend, a mother and a wife.

Through their candid footage, these men open their hearts and take us on an unforgettable journey, capturing camaraderie and humor along with the brutal and terrifying experiences they face.

These soldiers got the story that 2,700 embedded reporters never could.

One year. Three unlikely soldiers.

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REVIEWS

Philip Wuntch

Dallas Morning News

“Director Deborah Scranton, co-producer and editor Steve James and co-producer Robert May managed to assemble the immense footage into a taut, often searing 97 minutes.”

Terry Lawson

Detroit Free Press

“The film is one of the most urgent and immediate nonfiction works we may ever see.”

Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

“A powerfully distressing film.”

David Ansen

Newsweek

“The unnerving documentary is all the more necessary, and all the more shocking, in its immediacy.”

Mark Olsen

Los Angeles Times

“Arguably the most vital and eye-opening documentary yet made regarding the United States’ current military entanglement.”

A.O. Scott

The New York Times CRITICS PICK!

“A moving, complicated movie that illuminates with heartbreaking clarity some of the human actuality of this long, confusing war.”

FEATURING

Zack Bazzi

Sergeant Zack Bazzi is a Lebanese-born Arab who escaped from the Lebanon Civil War with his family at age 10. His mother Sana doesn’t want him to go to war, but Bazzi says one reason he joined the military was to travel and see the world, and he has been deployed overseas twice before – in Bosnia and Kosovo. A battle-tested veteran and fluent in Arabic, Bazzi finds himself translating for U.S. forces throughout his twelve months in Iraq.

Mike Moriarty

Specialist Mike Moriarty was so moved by the 9/11 attacks that he joined the National Guard. As an Army reservist during the first Gulf War, Moriarty’s unit was ready to ship out to Iraq just as the war ended. He says he rejoined the Guard because he “could not stand to see another soldier die without being able to do [his] part,” even if it meant being apart from his wife Randi and his two young children.

Steve Pink

Sergeant Stephen Pink is a wise-cracking former reporter who made a “rash decision” to join the National Guard for college money — and to prove to himself that he could do it. Born and raised in Kingston, Massachusetts, he’s a sensitive guy deep down (as his girlfriend, Lindsay Coletti, says), and he keeps a journal during his time in Iraq, using his writing and storytelling to cope with the ever-present danger and violence.