Three Kings

Three Kings tells the tale of four American soldiers who at the end of the Iran/Iraq war in 1991 scoot illegally into the desert to steal gold bullion from Saddam Hussein's regiem.

In the tradition of Catch 22 and M.A.S.H. bizarre pathos clashes with surrealism, as people exhibiting breathtakingly wide shades of motivation and behaviour react to the stupidity and ravages of war.

I was reminded of a moment I spent in a Saigon hotel room about five years ago watching the Discovery Channel. The American commentator was extolling the virtues of some type of war plane, saying that "it was with this superior technology that America won the war in Vietnam!"

While a red communist flag flew outside of the window over twenty years after the American's defeat!

It's largely upon this sort of propaganda that the cynicism of Three Kings is based. Early in the film an Iraqui is surrendering to the American troops.

The war is supposed to be at an end as far as the soldiers are concerned but the rules of engagement have become unclear. "Are we shooting? Are we shooting?" shouts the soldier. He's not sure but literally blasts the head off the Iraqui anyway.

But the situation becomes even more murky when our four gold thieves come into intimate contact with civilians who are in a dangerous squeeze.

The Americans have apparently won the war and some of the locals have risen against Hussein, but they've been betrayed. They don't know that the Americans have decided to leave Hussein in power.

So now they're being killed by their own army.

What will the Americans do? This sort of scenario has been common in films of course but the difference in Three Kings is that there are no clear definitions of the good guys and the bad guys.

The four soldiers are played by George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze. Jonze directed Being John Malkovich. They all shine in a challenging environment.

The writer director is David O. Russell who's only other feature films have been Spanking The Monkey (1994) and Flirting With Danger (1996).

Three Kings introduces us to a director who must now inhabit the sort of territory Oliver Stone and Martin Scorcese have defined.