Rules of Engagement (film)

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Rules of Engagement

The movie poster for Rules of Engagement.
Directed by William Friedkin
Produced by Scott Rudin
Richard D. Zanuck
Written by James H. Webb
Stephen Gaghan
Starring Tommy Lee Jones
Samuel L. Jackson
Music by Mark Isham
Cinematography Nicola Pecorini
Editing by Augie Hess
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) March 31, 2000
Running time 128 min.
Language English, Arabic
Budget $60,000,000
IMDb profile

Rules of Engagement is a 2000 American movie starring Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones, directed by William Friedkin. The movie, a military, political, and legal drama, is about Marine Colonel Terry Childers, played by Jackson, who is court-martialed for disobeying the rules of engagement in a military incident at an embassy.

The lead writer, James H. Webb, is a former Marine combat officer and lawyer, Secretary of the Navy, and is currently the junior United States Senator from Virginia.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

The key scene in the movie takes place in Yemen, where an unruly crowd of local men, women and children demonstrate outside the U.S. embassy in Sana’a (for reasons that are never revealed) and Colonel Childers and his men have to evacuate the sniveling U.S. Ambassador, his wife and his young son. Everything hinges on whether (a) the crowd was armed and fired first or Colonel Childers exceeded his orders and reacted based on anger or a darker motive.

According to U.S. military law as explained in the film, Childers could be found guilty of murder for killing 83 noncombatants. But if some of them were carrying weapons and opened fire, he could be exonerated. Colonel Hays Hodges (Jones) openly tells Childers he needs a better lawyer than Hodges in order to avoid a life sentence, since Hodges had an unimpressive career in the Marines' JAG Corps, but Childers is adamant about having Hodges as his attorney.

The prosecution asserts that Childers' order to fire was based on personal fear, racism, or confusion. The National Security Advisor wants Childers to be convicted in order to preserve U.S. relations with Arab countries; when he receives a videotape that shows hostile fire coming from the crowd outside the embassy, he burns the tape. The defense and Childers respond that he was in fear for his Marines' lives and was in compliance with his orders and the rules of engagement. The Ambassador lies on the stand when he says the crowd was peacefully demonstrating; his wife later admits the truth to Jones but won't testify in contradiction to her husband. The prosecution introduces previous actions by then-Lieutenant Childers in Vietnam to show a history of misconduct, including a witness.

The actions in Vietnam, shown as a flashback in the first few minutes of the film, revolved around an ambush of then-Lieutenant Hodges' platoon by a Colonel Binh Le Cao, a North Vietnamese officer, and his men. While listening to sounds of the ambush, Childers and his Marines captured the Vietnamese officer and his radioman. In order to save Hodges and his platoon, Childers held a pistol to the radioman's head and tried to force Colonel Cao to withdraw his troops from the ambush in exchange for the officer and radioman's freedom. When the officer initially refused to comply, Childers executed Colonel Cao's subordinate. After the Vietnamese officer changed his mind and called off his troops, Childers released him.

During the testimony of Colonel Cao that Childers had illegally threatened him with death in order to save his Marines, the foreign officer admits that he would likely have done what Childers had. This appears to be a potential turning point in the trial and, ultimately, Colonel Childers is found not guilty of the charges of Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman and murder, but guilty of the minor charge of breach of the peace. He retires from the Marines. A postscript title card says that the Ambassador and the National Security Advisor were also forced to leave their positions because of their mendacious behavior during the whole affair.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Criticism

The film drew widespread criticism for its dehumanizing portrayal of Arab characters. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee described it as "probably the most racist film ever made against Arabs by Hollywood".[1] Paul Clinton of the Boston Globe wrote "at its worst, it's blatantly racist, using Arabs as cartoon-cutout bad guys".

Film critic and academic Mark Freeman writes:

"The Yemeni people are painted in the broadest, most racist terms imaginable. Friedkin lets his camera linger over their angry faces, exaggerating their difference: the robes, the veils, the beards, the bizarre, harsh language, and their keen desire for violence. The omission of key scenes early on only serves to emphasize the horrendous racism of this film when the 'truth' is revealed later. The message of Rules of Engagement is the necessity to kill all those who actively oppose the United States and that the murder of women and children is acceptable in such cases."[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Whitaker, Brian. The 'towel-heads' take on Hollywood, The Guardian. Friday August 11, 2000.
  2. ^ Freeman, Mark. Review of "Rules of Engagement" by Mark Freeman, Senses of Cinema

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Films directed by William Friedkin
Good Times (1967) • The Birthday Party (1968) • The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) • The Boys in the Band (1970) • The French Connection (1971) • The Exorcist (1973) • Sorcerer (1977) • The Brink's Job (1978) • Cruising (1980) • Deal of the Century (1983) • To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) • Rampage (1988) • The Guardian (1990) • Blue Chips (1994) • Jade (1995) • Rules of Engagement (2000) • The Hunted (2003) • Bug (2007)