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Severe Clear - War Experienced on A Movie Screen

By: eriks

Austin : TX : USA | 7 months ago

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Severe Clear - Trailer

Posted by: eriks

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I saw Severe Clear down in Austin, Texas, during SXSW this year. It is a frightening, uncensored and raw film about the experiences of the Marines during the invasion of Iraq. It was created by footage taken by First Lieutenant Michael T. Scotti as well as Mini-DV video footage shot by him and other members of Charlie Company 1st Marines. Through their cameras we see the raw sounds of war, capturing their epic journey across the globe as they come face to face with death, destruction and what it means to be a US Marine.

I found myself having the chills when you saw the true version of the war and what it means to be part of the war - both as soldiers and as civilians. There are no winners. We all lose in wars. They are sometimes necessary, but I doubt we will ever have "a winner". One of the comments from the film that stayed with me. The biggest enemy on the battlefield is time. Time makes you think. You do not want to think.

I was fortunate to listen to Michael T. Scotti talk about the movie, and the probably the most striking moment was to see one of his fellow members of the Company burst in tears after the movie. He later came over and they hugged. They clearly have been through things most of us would rather not The experiences live on inside them. Always. I wonder if they will ever be the same again...

I read somewhere that many soldiers when they get back from the war chooses to back to the war. They claim it is easier to cope with their experiences by continuing to live in it. It prevents you from having the time to process them. When you have to face them, you have to face them. I am not sure anyone would like to face these images of a routine day of death constantly around you. Death of civilians. Death of friends. Just death. There are no winners.

Yet many forget that these experiences will always be the same, if not worse, for the civilians in the region. Children. Adults. Men. Women. They will have to deal with the same images. They did not choose to join the military. They lack any training. They are in it because they live there. Not by choice.

The movie is a true story about these experiences and ironically also a monument of what true citizen media could be. Uncensored, direct and almost overwhelming with emotions. I promise you will not walk out of the movie theatre the same as you walked in. I doubt anyone will look on war as a video game again after seeing this monument of the experiences in war.

It is uncensored. It is raw. It is just real.

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READ MORE: severe clear, human interest, Iraq, SXSW, Marines, war

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Post a Comment Comments: 9

Posted By

slydog | 7 months ago

When the US invaded Iraq I got rather sick...I even refused to watch it on TV..and I'm a NEWS Junkie! I even sought counselling it got so bad. They explained it as a strange form of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome coupled with an abbhorence for violence and empathy for victims. Go figure?

Reply By

eriks | 7 months ago

I do believe the importance of the film is primarily to teach people what wars really mean. That the experience are far worse than the average person think. I do believe what makes the movie good is that it doesn't mix in any political messages with the human aspects of them. It is a really powerful film.

Another aspect of the film is that it is a terrific example of citizen media. The filming is technically not very good, but it is authentic and raw. It really shows that ultimately media is not about perfect technics, but about the emotional power of it.

Posted By

slydog | 7 months ago

Me..Eriks..I'm almost sick of technology. It can can be a blessing or a bane...for ME..a bane! :-( AND a virual nightmare. I don't understand it..I'm really a Luddite at Heart. Don't fit in.

Posted By

cybermoosecode | 7 months ago

For those who come to grips with the reality of war know it can make you turn off the tv when its time for news.
Severe cleaar sounds like a good movie to watch, perhaps it would help more people would come to terms with the need for peace and security.

Posted By

debi1 | 6 months ago

I sat glued to net the other day and watched american troops, special troops and green berets amongst others, on duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. I lost track of time while watching how they had to be totally face to face with death every day and accepting that eventually they might die or loose a limb or two. It hit me how war really changes both the people that are civilians and victims without having a say and the soldiers that we call heroes are forced to turn into machines and control themselves so that they wont kill every iraqi they suspect might be dangerous and and so that they might show civilians respect in order to not create hatred towards USA. Like a fellow Swede wrote " Am i a Man or a beast?".. Im actually grateful towards USA for at least trying to fight off terrorism but I also pity those that turn into "machines" and "beasts"..

Posted By

aveguevara | 6 months ago

On my father's deathbed in 1987 we became very close. We spoke of many things, his last request of me was to learn Mozart's 5th concerto on his violin. When I asked him if he had anything he wanted to get off his mind regarding the wars he was in (WWII, Korean), from his weakened state, he lifted his head and a fire filled his widened eyes as memories were evoked out of the pain from his lungs bleeding with cancer: "War is so terrible, the memory is so awful, I will not talk about it and it is best forgotten." He died the next day.

Posted By

Yvonne | 6 months ago

Hello Eriks,
I absolutely agree, in war there are no winners. The invasion of Iraq was a collossal mistake that America may never recover from. The soldiers who were actually in combat never talk about it. That is how you can tell a braggart (one who would wear a flight jacket for show) from a warrior. My generation is still suffering from the Vietnam War, the ruined lives and families that live on. I write about it in my novel, for how can one write about the sixties without embracing the futility of Vietnam? The main difference is that the majority of young Americans in Vietnam were there against their will because of the draft. I have trouble sympathizing with today's soldiers. I can't help but think of them as a mercenary force, in it for the bonuses. Maybe that isn't fair, but there it is.

Thank you for posting this report. I will have trouble finding this film in my neck of the woods and my connection is not high speed. Did you see In the Valley of Elah? A mainstream but powerful film about a soldier who returns from Irag and then disappears. I loved it.
Best,
Yvonne

Posted By

AmandaKeller | 6 months ago

Great reflection of this powerful subject. My father-in-law was a fighter pilot in WWII and was the most soft-spoken, lovely, graceful man I've ever met. It was not until after he died did we read his memoirs, the most poignant were his two years as a youth flying combat missions in WWII. He saw many of his best friends die, shot down. His own plane always made it back and he himself was sent home just two "kills" short of an ace though that meant nothing to him. His memoirs made no romance of war. It was hell, but he saw the reality of the world had it not been fought and he thanked God every day that America did what it did.

My grandfather was also in WWII, at the battle of Normandy though he too never spoke of it. He was 18 at the time and saw things this generation cannot conceive of. He was a true survivor and passed his grit onto his late-in-life son who now serves in the complicated conflict now at hand. I've had a chance to visit with my uncle (who is 13 years my junior) and he too is a man of few words but of the most gentle and graceful of temperments. He hates that he has to do what he does, but says that the alternative would be a world he could not subject his daughter to live in. I don't pry, I just listen and respect.

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