Frontline
Bad Voodoo's War
FRONTLINE
goes to war in Iraq with a band of California-based National Guard
soldiers who call themselves the "Bad Voodoo Platoon" to tell their
very personal story in Bad Voodoo's War. To record their war, from
private reflections to real-time footage of improvised explosive device
(IED) attacks on the ground, director Deborah Scranton (The War Tapes)
creates a "virtual embed," supplying cameras to the soldiers of the Bad
Voodoo Platoon and working with them to shape an intimate portrait that
reveals the hard grind of their war. Says Scranton: "What compels me is
telling a story from the inside out, to crawl inside their world with
them to see what it looks like, feels like and smells like. It's really
important to give soldiers the chance to press their own record button
on this war."
Through their daily experiences, acting platoon leader Sgt. 1st Class
Toby Nunn, originally from British Columbia and the father of three,
and Spc. Jason Shaw, a 23-year-old from Texas, give us a firsthand look
at the impact of the U.S. military's policy of multiple deployments to
Iraq and how the Army's role has changed on the ground.
Spc. Shaw is on his third deployment to Iraq. After the invasion in
2003, he was awarded the Silver Star for valor during the battle for
the Baghdad airport. Shaw volunteered for his third tour in Iraq, but
is haunted by the loss of so many comrades during his earlier
deployments. "I've had six of my good friends die," he explains. "When
I lost all of my buddies, I just kind of lost hope. I used to be
religious. My last deployment totally made me think otherwise. You
know, you pray all the time to keep everybody safe, and then something
happens."