They are the top downloaded films of 2009, and they are all up for best picture at the Oscars. Wow.
Well everyone here knows my feelings on all of these movies. I have had a chance to see all of them, and my opinions really haven’t changed too much. Probably my favorite out of all of them, if I can put aside the whole ‘PMC’s are evil’ angle, is District 9. It trumps Avatar for a unique story and kick ass sci-fi. Plus they made it for way cheaper than Avatar, and you have to give it up for the little guys who do a lot with a little.
I think the worse one for bashing the military and contractors, is Avatar. So for that, I wouldn’t mind seeing the Hurt Locker or District 9 beat out Avatar, just to see Cameron’s face in the close ups at the oscars. The Hurt Locker is probably the least offensive out of all of these films, but even in that film, they portrayed contractors (one of which was played by Ralph Fiennes) as murky seedy dudes of the desert, who only care about themselves and money. In other words, they played up the mercenary stereotype to the hilt in their portrayal of contractors in the film, and I was turned off. And in this scene, they act like the military was fearful of contractors in Iraq. If anything, most of the military guys I came across wanted to be contractors or if they saw a contractor PSD team broken down on the side of the road, they usually pulled over and asked if we need any help. The movie makes it seem like military and contractors were at odds with each other over there, and that could be the farthest from the truth. Contractors also helped out the military with medical calls or security support, and I saw way more collaboration and mutual respect over there, than what the film portrayed.
I have yet to see a company fork over the money and provide a Barrett M 82 .50 Cal for road work either. Not impossible, but highly unlikely, and especially with the weapon restrictions contractors faced in Iraq. If a British contractor would like to pipe in and prove me wrong on this, I am all ears. I never saw them roll with that kind of weaponry out there, but I could be wrong.
The funny thing with all of these films, is that I think more films will be made with PMC’s in them. I am even optimistic enough that eventually someone will make a good movie that will portray this industry in a positive light. The reason I say that, is because every time Hollywood tries to make political statements in their films, it backfires on them. Apocalypse Now was meant to be an anti-war film, and instead it turned into a cult classic. Platoon, was meant to be an anti-war film, and made by an extreme left-wing loony tunes veteran named Oliver Stone. Instead, that film has become a cult classic. Full Metal Jacket is another classic war film, that was meant to repulse the viewer about war and the military, and instead, it has created a following throughout the world. Hell, that movie is what motivated me, and thousands like me, to join the Marines. lol So will Hollywood only motivate others to want to become contractors, with their attempt at making ‘anti-contractor’ films?
So will this new batch of anti-contractor/anti-PMC films, actually backfire on Hollywood? Look at the video gaming industry? Those are easily comparable to film releases and revenue, with multi-million dollar campaigns to sell them and huge start studded release parties, all trying to promote the allure of their shooter PMC related games. There was even talk of making Army of Two a movie. Wow, I didn’t see that one coming.
Look at the top downloaded films below, and the free market has definitely made it’s choice about what it wants. And you know what? What the viewing public wants, it gets. lol So will we see more films that involve this industry, and will Hollyweird continue to inadvertently elevate this industry through it’s naive attempt at demonizing us? I am getting more and more emails from kids and individuals who never served in the military or police, who want to become contractors or who are just interested in learning about the industry. Interesting cultural developments if you ask me, and that is why I cover this stuff.
The best thing the film industry could do, if they really don’t like us, is to ignore this industry and keep us out of their scripts. But the temptation is just too strong, and I think we will see more films that have either negative or positive portrayals of contractors in them. And that portrayal will further thread this industry into the fabric of culture–good or bad. Interesting times, and we will see who wins at the Oscars. –Matt
Edit: And the Hurt Locker wins Best Picture. -hee hee
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TorrentFreak’s Top Downloaded Films For 2009
1. District 9 – 12,639,000
2. Avatar – 11,326,000
3. The Hurt Locker – 7,930,000
4. Up – 5,437,000
5. Inglourious Basterds – 5,376,000
6. Precious – 4,922,000
7. Up In The Air – 4,855,000
8. A Serious Man – 3,836,000
9. The Blind Side – 1,845,00010. An Education – 683,000
Link to TorrentFreak blog here.
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Best Motion Picture Nominees of 2009
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox)
A Lightstorm Entertainment Production
es Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
“The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.)
An Alcon Entertainment Production
Nominees to be determined
“District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
A Block/Hanson Production
Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
“An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics)
A Finola Dwyer/Wildgaze Films Production
Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment)
A Voltage Pictures Production
Nominees to be determined
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company)
A Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures/A Band Apart/Zehnte Babelsberg Production
Lawrence Bender, Producer
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)
A Lee Daniels Entertainment/Smokewood Entertainment Production
Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
“A Serious Man” (Focus Features)
A Working Title Films Production
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
“Up” (Walt Disney)
A Pixar Production
Jonas Rivera, Producer
“Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
A Montecito Picture Company Production
Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers
Link to the Oscars website here.
MATT SAID: “I have yet to see a company fork over the money and provide a Barrett M 82 .50 Cal for road work either.”
Our Editor at Large worked for a contractor in Iraq a few years ago that had Barrett M 82 .50 Cal’s for road work – so a few contractors were using them, at least they did in the past.
I have seen contractors (especially during the “wild west” times following the 2 years after the invasion) with everything from mounted full-auto Russian 40mm grenade launchers to M-136 AT-4 anti-tank rocket launchers.
And (being the devils advocate on your site again – LOL) the guys in The Hurt locker were not Civilian Contractors – they were straight-up Mercenaries bounty hunting in Iraq.
The producers did have an ex-contractor (used to work for Backwater) as a consultant for the film, take a close look at the gear everyone is carrying – it is expensive John Wills stuff.
Also; using contractors as “bad guys” in films has been going on since the 80’s – James Cameron used PMC’s as the bad guys as far back as 1986 for Aliens (the Weyland-Yutani Corporation AKA “the company”).
I think about 50% of all action movies have had some sort of “Evil Corporations” in it, its just now they have a name “Contractors” or “PMC”
~James G
Comment by James G - Death Vall — Sunday, March 7, 2010 @ 7:53 PM
About the Barrett, I was just giving an example of one dude I knew who used them in Iraq. But I am sure they are pretty rare gun to see on contractors.
The thing with then wearing Shamaghs when the army was rolling in – totally agree with you that that was BS, like you said contractors make it a point to identify themselves as friendly’s. But it made for a “edge of seat” moment in the flick. Allot of the things you say about the movie being inaccurate is shared by allot of mil groups, I just read something about that.
Yes, the last couple of years I was in Iraq I was an IT engineer, but I started out on the security side of international contracting back in 2000. I now am going back into the security side, the money is better doing IT but it is way boring and you always have a microscope under everything you do.
~James G
Comment by James G - Death Vall — Monday, March 8, 2010 @ 5:54 AM
James,
Thats cool, if there actually was a company that provided such a thing, and bravo to them for forking over the money. I guess my point is that I have never seen them over there, and it is extremely rare for a company to purchase a weapon like that for contracts. Most are cheap companies, and use whatever they can buy on the market in country.
I have seen the Russian stuff on vehicles too, and I agree there. That stuff is cheaper and more available than the expensive american stuff. The AT-4's came from units who were leaving Iraq, and just handed them over to contractors– there is nothing new there. Same with hand grenades or 40 mm stuff. Hell, I saw one team rolling with an old school M-79 launcher. That was cool.
But Barretts is a whole different ball game dude. Those are expensive and if companies actually purchased them and got them over there for their people, that is great. It's just I have never seen them. I know the military doesn't give that kind of weapon away when they are leaving Iraq, and that is serialized stuff. Nor do they sign that stuff away over at DRMO. lol
There are also some contracts where companies are loaned that equipment from the military. Yet again though, the only gear I have seen loaned out is the junky stuff that was falling apart. Stuff like M-9's or M-249's. And back then, weapons in the military were at a premium. Even they were having a hard time getting the good stuff, or maintaining what they got. I know, because I had to use the junky stuff they let us borrow.
As for the way these guys looked and what not, I don't know many guys that would keep their Shamagh on as a US military patrol was approaching them. That was retarded. Matter of fact, when a military patrol approaches, we would flash flags and show our faces and be as western looking as possible, just so they knew we were not the bad guys.
Now for traveling in low pro, while actually moving on the road, I could see wearing that stuff. But in the scene they showed, that was dumb and guys would not be doing that.
The John Wills gear? I guess. Most guys I knew tried to save their money and buy Tactical Tailor or Blackhawk Ind. vests, and wore those over the TA 50's that we were all issued at CRC. If folks were lucky enough to work on the really high end contracts, then yeah I could see them buying really good kit. But most guys used a combination of the crap companies or the military would issue, and dress it up with their own kit. That is my experience with kit and contractors over there. But yeah, I didn't have a beef with the movie's costume design for the contractors.
Your final point about movie contractors, is valid and no disagreement there. I still don't like how companies are presented, and I would still like to watch a movie in which a PMC is the good guy. But hey, if you like the way PMC's are portrayed in the movies, then you are in luck.
Comment by headjundi — Monday, March 8, 2010 @ 5:05 AM