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"Dirty Wars"
U.S. Documentary
***1/2 (three-and-a-half stars)
Jeremy Scahill is a reporter on a mission: To expose the unsavory — and probably unconstitutional — things done in our name as part of the "War on Terror." Those things include secret raids against unarmed civilians in Afghanistan, undeclared war in such nations as Yemen, and the ordered killing of U.S. citizens without trial or conviction. Scahill, a war correspondent mostly writing for The Nation, narrates this documentary, sort of an impressionist investigatory expose, that uncovers uncomfortable truths about what both the Bush and Obama administrations have done without public or media scrutiny. Director Richard Rowley creates an atmosphere more like a detective thriller than a static documentary, with Scahill's dogged reporting as the narrative thread uniting secret operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia.
— Sean P. Means
No more screenings of "Dirty Wars" are scheduled. The movie has been picked up for distribution by Sundance Selects.