Trials of rebuilding

Cutting Edge: The Price of Victory SBS
November 25 at 8.30pm.
Review by Paul Cross

If you can get through the first 10 minutes, which look like a propaganda film, The Price of Victory is interesting viewing. Unfortunately those first minutes are disjointed and fail to grab the viewer’s attention.

After the opening, the documentary settles into a more fluid style. The Price of Victory is about the occupation of Iraq by US and Coalition forces after the fall of Saddam and the trials and tribulations associated with the rebuilding of a nation.

It does not pull its punches, interviewing soldiers and civilians critical of the slow pace of reconstruction viewed from life on the streets. Many of the images are graphic, such as the bodies of Saddam’s sons on a mortuary slab.

It also investigates an incident where a soldier shot an unarmed (but rock throwing) protester during a demonstration – giving the official US version as well as the views of US soldiers and Iraqi civilians that are in stark contrast to the report.

The Price of Victory is an interesting look into the military policing of the issues affecting a re-emergent nation.