It is among the best war movies ever. It is among the best movies I have seen recently. The fact that they completely overlooked it at the Oscars is just a testament to how good a year for movies 1999 was.

The plot. Chief Elgin (Ice Cube), Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlburg), Conrad Vig (Spike Jonze), and Archie Gates (George Clooney) are four U.S. servicemen in Iraq at the end of the Gulf War. None of them really think they accomplished anything, although the three younger men buy into the rhetoric of George Bush. They were there to re-stabilize the region after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Gates knows better, that they were there to protect American gas prices. They discover the location of tons of Kuwaiti gold stolen by the Iraqis. They decide to steal it, making their trip worthwhile.

Instead of being an easy task, it gets complicated. They arrive at the site indicated on a map they found in the rectum of an Iraqi soldier. Instead of just gold, they find the chaotic state Bush left the Iraqis in. He promised that the U.S. would support them if they rose against Saddam, then changed his mind, leaving the rebels at the mercy of the Iraqi soldiers. Since the two nations have signed a peace treaty, the Iraqis don't molest them in their efforts, only wanting them to leave so they can murder the rebels. In a tense moment when each man has to decide if their consciences could let them abandon the rebels, the shooting starts, making their decisions for them. Barlow is captured, and the others are rescued by Amir (Cliff Curtis), the leader of the rebels. They make a pact: the rebels will rescue Barlow and help get the gold, and the Americans have to help get them to the Iranian border.

In one of the most poignant scenes I have ever witnessed, Barlow is about to be tortured by Captain Said, played beautifully by Said Taghmaoui. In a quiet voice, dripping with disgust at the Americans but with an underlying sense of frustration and sadness, Said asks Barlow why the Americans were there in the first place. He has already told Barlow that American troops trained him in torture techniques, and that his family was killed in one of the American bombing runs over Baghdad. Both men realize that they are pawns of powers that don't care about them. Both men would rather be somewhere else. I won't ruin it, but I can't think of many more powerful scenes.

I would recommend this movie to any flag-waving conservative who follows American policy without thinking. I remember being in high school when the Gulf War started, being excited, not really realizing that it was just a power play over oil prices. The film shamed me. I can think of few better words of praise.