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“Only the most ridiculous parts of this story are true”
 In
The Hunting Party,
Richard Shepard addresses the subject of the hunt for Bosnian war
criminals in his own way. Almost a satire, but not quite going over the
line, The Hunting Party toes that line with wit, drama, and carefully
placed images of a war torn country that in some ways was just beginning
to heal. Taking small jabs at NATO, The Hague and the CIA, Shepard
brings the fact that these war criminals are running free and none of
these agencies are trying very hard to catch them to the attention of
mainstream moviegoers.
It may sound like this is a documentary, or that Shepard is preaching to
us Michael Moore
style, but he isn't. Shepard has taken very real people and real events
and real situations, fictionalized them and injected the perfect amount
of humor into them to create an entertaining as well as informative view
of our governments practices. This is not to say that there isn't a
serious side, as you can never show the true horror of war on any size
screen and the opening sequence shows us that in a way that is brutal
and sadly beautiful at the same time.
Shepard has a talent for wringing great performances from his cast and
proves it once again with Richard Gere, Terence Howard and Jesse
Eisenberg. Using humor to offset the violence and horror of war is a
real practice and pulling it off in a movie without sliding into the
land of cheese, or looking callous, is a talent that all three main
actors did very well. Gere plays Simon Hunt as a man on a mission with
an intensity that shines through in a few key scenes as well as showing
how humor is used as a defense against the horrors of war. Terence
Howard's Duck is the semi-straight man, using the phrase, “Unbelievable”
more times than I can count in reaction to Gere's antics. Jesse
Eisenberg plays Benjamin, the new kid, still wet behind the ears. It is
through his eyes that we see the events unfold. Through the trials of
the adventure that these three journalists take we see him change from
the nervous rookie, to being a part of the group through his realization
that it isn't a game.
I must stress once again, that this film was made as an entertainment
piece first and foremost, but if it makes you question our government,
then the movie has done more than it's job.
Until we catch Osama,
keep reading
Mitch E
mitchemerson@hotmail.com
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