No Western photojournalist has done as much sustained work in occupied Iraq as Gilbertson, and this wide-ranging treatment of the war from the viewpoint of a photographer is the first of its kind. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot gathers the best of Gilbertson’s photographs, chronicling America’s early battles in Iraq, the initial occupation of Baghdad, the insurgency that erupted shortly afterward, the dramatic battle to overtake Falluja, and ultimately, the country’s first national elections. Throughout his work, Gilbertson took great risks to document the risks taken by others, whether dodging sniper fire with American infantry, photographing an Iraqi bomb squad as they diffused IEDs, or following marines into the cauldron of urban combat. Just twenty-five years old at the time, Gilbertson soon landed a contract with the New York Times, and his extraordinary images of life in occupied Iraq and of American troops in action began appearing in the paper regularly. invasion, unaffiliated with any newspaper and hoping to pick up assignments along the way, Ashley Gilbertson was one of the first photojournalists to cover the disintegration of America’s military triumph as looting and score settling convulsed Iraqi cities. Only now it’s not comedy, it’s war, and while Whiskey Tango Foxtrot does a good job to show how brazenly disinterested some of these people can be about the wider story in exchange for nabbing a scoop, this represents a step up to the big leagues for both the character and the star.WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT: A PHOTOGRAPHER'S CHRONICLE OF THE IRAQ WARīy Ashley Gilbertson (Author), Dexter Filkins (Foreword)Īrriving in Iraq on the eve of the U.S. Kim Baker is a media striver overcoming obstacles and finding solutions, not that far removed from 30 Rock’s Liz Lemon. Granted, that’s a low bar, but it’s a relief to finally see her in a role that utilizes her smarts, her comic timing and the fundamental goodness that exudes from her persona. That aside (and a silly plot twist with another reporter played by Margot Robbie), this is by far the best feature film in which Tina Fey has played the lead. It’s the type of hollow move that would cause this gang of jaded reporters to throw their arms up. Abbott is hardly putting butts in seats, and there are scores of actors from this part of the world that could have done Fahim’s part well. Abbott (James White, HBO’s Girls) is a fantastic actor and with the beard and turban certainly “passes,” but what the hell were they thinking? Alfred Molina plays a far dopier role as an Afghan politician somewhat obsessed with Fey’s character, but that whole storyline is so jokey (and hokey) it’s hard to take it too seriously. Maybe that’s offensive to Muslim women (or maybe the male oppression of women by demanding they wear the burqa is offensive this has always been a toughie), but that’s nothing like the realization midway through the picture that the “nice Afghan”, Fahim, is played by Christopher Abbott. ‘Nicely spun’ … Tina Fey with Nicholas Braun in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. One of the film’s few troops-in-harm’s-way sequences is set to Harry Nilson’s goofy power ballad Without You and when a trip up to Kandahar to chase a story means putting on a blue burqa (or, as Fey calls it, a “mystery Ikea bag”) she steps out (in slo-mo) to a bossa nova beat. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, directed by Glenn Ficara and John Requa (writers of Bad Santa, writer/directors of Focus) would never let something like that pass even if, let’s face it, that is what’s going on here.įicara and Requa have an irreverent streak, one that even might strike some as a little flippant against the gravity of the war. “She had to travel halfway around the world just to find herself” is exactly not the type of nauseating cliche you’ll find Robert Carlock’s script (adapted, loosely it seems, from Kim Barker’s memoir The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan). There’s a lot else in the film to keep busy, like a love story with a Scottish photographer Iain (Martin Freeman), as well as a nicely spun feminist awakening. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot eases into it slowly, such that its ultimate seriousness feels like a surprise not only to Baker, but to us in the audience, too. The adrenaline junkie who gets off on dangerous situations is a fascinating subgenre, from The Hurt Locker to Bringing Out the Dead to the recent Sundance doc Jim: The James Foley Story. Watch the trailer for Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
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