Generation Kill

This Wednesday 7th October Channel 4 will begin broadcasting a 7 part HBO drama called Generation Kill. The show which originally aired in the US in 2008 is based on the book of the same name by Rolling Stone’s Evan Wright. The book was developed for TV by David Simon and Ed Burns (The Wire) and has been proclaimed as the most realistic depiction of the Iraq War yet to make it to our screens.

Generation Kill recounts Wrights experiences during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 when he was embedded with the First Recon Battalion of the US Marines and is shot with an almost documentary like style. This is not an action show. Fans of The Wire will recognise the slow pacing and prominence of dialogue over action as traits of Simon and Burns. They will also recognise one or two of the actors. The most obvious being the excellent James Ransone who plays Corporal Josh Ray Person and who played Ziggy in season 2 of the Wire.

One of the main strengths of the show is that is does not get bogged down in questions regarding the legitimacy of the invasion but rather presents events in a matter of fact style leaving questions about the why they are there to the soldiers themselves. Instead it focuses on revealing the extraordinary situations these young men find themselves in, how they react, how they deal with the things they see and do and how they justify their own actions.

An interesting piece of trivia from the series is that Sergeant Rudy Reyes portrays himself. The part is in no way trivial and credit must be given that his performance does not fall below the level of the professional actors.

Generation Kill airs on Channel 4 at 11:20pm on Wednesday.