Now making its way into theaters across the country, “The War Tapes” is a documentary born of the Internet age. Director Deborah Scranton put inexpensive Sony camcorders in the hands of several soldiers (in this picture, Spc. Mike Moriarty) from a New Hampshire National Guard unit and kept in constant touch with them during their 2004 tour of duty via e-mail and instant messages. One notable result: The movie won top documentary honors at the Tribeca Film Festival in May.
Five soldiers from the 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain) filmed the yearlong deployment. “The War Tapes” focuses on three of them, including Sgt. Zach Bazzi, seen here training an Iraqi policeman.\r\n”I took one of the cameras because it was like, wow, cool, free camera, a $1,500 piece of equipment,” Bazzi told the Boston Globe.
Left to right: Moriarty, Scranton, Bazzi and Pink, out of harm’s way.
The poster for “The War Tapes.” A trailer for the film can be seen here.
Bill Detwiler is the Editor for Technical Content and Ecosystem at Celonis. He is the former Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and previous host of TechRepublic's Dynamic Developer podcast and Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Previously, Bill was an IT manager in the social research and energy industries. He has bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Louisville, where he has also lectured on computer crime and crime prevention.
