Route Irish - Film on Iraq By Ken Loach

There are still a few filmmakers with a sense of authenticity and a knowledge of history. Are you listening Kathryn Bigelow? With Route Irish, released last week, veteran British director Ken Loach did at least put some credit in the cinema’s Iraq account. Among the many ugly and horrible things the rape of Iraq has shown us, the phenomenon of privatised war, conducted through mercenaries or ‘private security companies,’ was one of them, and Loach confronts it head on. He’s not without sympathy (more than I would give them) for the grunts on the ground – there’s a humiliating lack of ceremony on their return should they die – but Loach’s anger is directed where it belongs – with the architects of the war, and those who parasitically fed off their self-perpetuating occupation. There are no audience-reassuring notes suggesting the profiteers and their buddies in government have faced, or will face justice, and there’s not a hint of dodgy uplift amongst the despair the facts engender. Strength to your camera, Ken.