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Baghdad ER - An HBO Documentary Film | 
 enlarge | Directors: Jon Alpert, Matthew O'neill
Actors: Jeffrey Beltran, William Berterm, Edward Dunton, James Hill, Chester Keenum
Studio: HBO Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $6.95
You Save: $13.03 (65%)
New (36) Used (17) from $6.75
Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 11087
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Published), Spanish (Published)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 64 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: D93730D
UPC: 026359373022
EAN: 0026359373022
ASIN: B000G1R4V6
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Release Date: August 29, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Expedited shipping is not available for this item.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
HBO's unflinching Baghdad ER makes programs like Grey's Anatomy and House look like kiddie cartoons. Directed by Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill, the fly-on-the wall documentary tracks the days and nights of the 86th Combat Support Hospital. Located in Baghdad's Green Zone, the CSH is the Army's premier medical facility in Iraq. It's a busy place. Most of the injuries--almost 18,000 from 2003-2005--are due to IEDs (improvised explosive devices). Patients with minor problems are patched up and sent on their way. More severe cases are medevaced to Germany or the States. Still others won't make it. Then there are those who lose limbs. It isn't an uncommon occurrence, and the film features discomfiting moments concerning those individuals (the sequences may be brief, but they're undeniably disturbing). But all is not trauma and tears. Alpert and O'Neill also catch the hard-working staff during rare moments of levity: playing the saxophone, smoking cigars, and telling bad jokes. As Captain Merritt Pember accedes, "There's a lot of stuff we laugh about and probably shouldn't--it helps keep us sane." According to the introductory text, "Ninety percent of American soldiers wounded in Iraq survive. This is the highest rate of war survivors in US History." Baghdad ER brings that impressive statistic to indelible life. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Description
Produced and directed by 11-time Emmy? Award-winner Jon Alpert, this 64-minute verite documentary takes an unforgettable look inside the 86th Combat Support Hospital (CSH), the U.S. Army?s premier medical facility in Iraq and former site of one of Saddam Hussein?s elite medical facilities. Shot over two months in the summer of 2005, the film puts a human face on the war?s cold casualty statistics, as doctors and nurses fight to save the lives of wounded soldiers who are Medevaced (helicoptered) in a numbingly routine basis.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 4515 dead 32,000 wounded...We Will Never Forget Your Sacrifice & Service May 27, 2008
Jeffrey (Oakland, CA)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
The numbers in the title are for the Wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. They are as close as I could figure because various websites list various numbers.
Regardless of whether they support or oppose the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, every single adult American should watch this HBO documentary. Baghdad ER is a brief glimpse into the chaos and carnage of modern warfare. This is what is happening now. This is not the sanitized dry count given by CNN or FOX. This is behind the scenes in an Emergency Room hospital in Baghdad, Iraq in the midst of war.
The servicepeople of the 86th Combat Support Hospital labor night and day every day of the year to treat wounds and save lives. Because of the excellent and passionate medical service of these selfless Americans, the death toll is much less than it could be and many of the wounds aren't as dehibilitating as they could be. They also treat civilians, Iraqi National Guardsmen, and even the wounded enemy. They believe passionately in what they are doing and serve with pride and determination. We have a volunteer military.
The footage is gory and there are scenes of pools of blood, mangled and burned limbs and amputated body parts. IEDs cause indescribable body trauma and are alone responsible for thousands of deaths and injuries. During the course of the documentary servicepeople are pronounced dead and prayed over. The tragedy is palpable. These are the people who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect every American's freedom. The trauma suffered by the wounded and unwounded survivors of IED's is deeply touching. The trauma suffered by the doctors, nurses and staff of the ER is obvious and equally heart-wrenching. Many are serving multiple tours. These are ordinary Americans serving in extraordinary situations and making the best of it they can. In my opinion, the best way to support our servicepeople and to feel and show gratitude for them is to see and listen to them and make every effort to understand what exactly they are going through.
Happy Memorial Day
Hard to watch May 6, 2008
Nicholas Breeze (Tallahassee , FL)
This was hard to watch . I needed to see this , but it hurt to see Americans die like this and the people who tried to save them. It hurt . These were Americans getting killed in real life. It was a good movie but so hard to watch . It emotionally disturbed me .
Baghdad ER May 25, 2007
Anna Marie Mattson (Lesigny, France)
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Excellent service. Received the DVD very quickly. I do think the postage is way too expensive though.
Baghdad ER May 14, 2007
John M. Stafford
Very good realistic look at the results of combat, even given the editing to make it more palatable for the average person.
A tough one to watch March 30, 2007
E. J. Fernyhough (Auckland, New Zealand)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is a very good documentary. But it is a tough one to watch. It's gory. The makers have not flinced from depicting the reality of what gunshot and explosives injuries are really like.
The documentary is not vouyeristic or exploitive. It has no apparent 'agenda'.
But it leaves you feeling pretty grim to know that these events are occuring every day in Iraq. Every day dozens of young Americans are being smashed up. Not to mention the hundreds of Iraqi civilians being butchered.
Is it really worth it? Are the Americans 'winning' anything?
George Bush should be made to watch this film.
Recommended.
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