Generation Kill [DVD] [2008] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] DVD (Region 1)

The mini-series tells the story of these young Marines physical and emotional journey into the heart of Baghdad in those initial weeks, and how the war reveals to be much more complicated, problematic and tragic than anyone had contemplated. Many of the complications and problems that arise are due to the unwieldy military bureaucracy which the Marines confront in the midst of the war, the challenges of over-zealous and incompetent commanding officers, ever-changing rules of engagement, a non-existent strategy, severe deficiencies in necessary armor and supplies, and an enemy they don’t understand.

Generation Kill is a humorous and frightening first hand account of these remarkable men, of the personal toll of victory, and of the brutality, camaraderie and bureaucracy of a new American war. It is a profoundly insightful and realistic look at the risk, costs and ultimately, the failures of the war.

Written and produced by Emmy-award winner David Simon (the Wire), and also produced by the award-winning George Faber (Elizabeth I).


There's macho, there's military macho, and then there's the over-the-top machismo of the Marines. In the HBO miniseries Generation Kill, one character--a Marine--describes his branch of the military as "America's pitbull." The seven episodes of Generation Kill follow a battalion of Marines as they lead the invasion of Iraq, ultimately rolling into Baghdad itself by the last show. The language is dense with obscenities and military jargon, but it's surprisingly easy to follow, even if you don't study the glossary that comes in a booklet with the box set. What isn't so easy to distinguish are the characters themselves, except by surface details: This guy has a hoarse voice, this guy is an embedded journalist (a stand-in for Evan Wright, the Rolling Stone reporter who wrote the book the series is based on), this guy is a white supremacist, this guy has a mustache, this guy is an officer obsessed with the other guy's mustache. The problem is that people are ultimately defined by what they do, and soldiers in war are all doing pretty much the same thing: Shooting, swearing, and sitting around as they wait to shoot and swear some more. But Generation Kill isn't aiming for personal identification; the creators of the series (David Simon and Ed Burns, producers of the critically-adored The Wire) aim to immerse the viewer in the texture of the experience--which, in this case, is mostly chaos and confusion. Sandstorms are as great a threat as mortar fire; pizza trucks arrive out of nowhere on the brink of a mission (conveniently providing a bit of product placement); and the rules of engagement keep changing as the goals of the higher-ups grow increasing out-of-synch with the war on the ground. Generation Kill captures the frustration and increasing cynicism of the grunt troops with vivid skill, as their simplistic morality--kill the bad guys!--grows more and more hollow. Extras include some brief interviews with real Marines; the usual making-of documentary, mildly interesting but justly deleted scenes, and audio commentaries; and entertaining video diaries from Eric Ladin, the actor who plays the white supremacist. --Bret Fetzer

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