National Geographic - 21 Days to Baghdad (2003)

Take a comprehensive look at Operation Iraqi Freedom, from the military buildup and the shock and awe campaign to the fire-fight in Basra and the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue. With spectacular footage never before seen in the U.S. and first-hand accounts of soldiers, reporters and National Geographic's award-winning production team, 21 Days to Baghdad will feature an exclusive, insider's look at the war strategy that ultimately drove Saddam Hussein from Baghdad.

21 Days, a good National Geo documentary

I bought this, as I have an interest in recent military history. The documentary was well balanced, but a little too sanitized. I guess that it is aimed at the mainstream domestic market, so the level of violence and gore is toned down. However we are dealing with war here and I believe it should be shown in full realism. Good interviews with the military and the shock and awe moments are, well, shock and awe! What it needs is a sequel detailing the total mess we are in now though, but that is a different topic. August 4, 2006

5 STARS: Truly Excellent Documentary - Stunning visuals; Shows what really happened during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Impressive!

First of all, it would appear that the reviewers who gave this wonderful DVD low ratings are either incredibly uninformed about the world in which they live, or they are just leftist anti-American "activists." Whatever their excuse is, their reviews are misleading at best. It seems clear that none of them actually watched the DVD. This isn't an issue about opinion; it is more an issue about integrity. I will explain what I mean later in this review.

While I would agree that soldiers who served in Iraq might find this boring (but only a few; this is a very thorough DVD with enough action and explanation of events to have truly historical significance in a way that most documentaries can only dream of). Those few soldiers who might find this boring would probably feel this way due to the fact that showing video of Power Utility linemen doing their jobs to Power Utility linemen wouldn't be particularly exciting, unless it was a bloopers/big mistakes documentary. Fortunately, 21 Days to Baghdad is an excellent documentary, and this DVD doesn't show American Servicemen being blown up, nor does it show them riddling terrorists with bullets, blood spraying, either.

It does, however, do an excellent job shedding light on the activities of our servicemen in harm's way, which is the entire point. For those of us who haven't served in Iraq (which would be most of us), it is an impressively thorough and truly cool documentary. And while the DVD "extras" aren't all that impressive, it has so much to offer for so many people that to call it boring would be disingenuous, not to mention blatantly dishonest, for the vast majority of people. For someone who isn't very familiar with the military, it gives valuable insight into the lives of our active-duty Troops overseas. For those who are more familiar with the way the American war machine operates, it is still informative, and quite interesting. It is also quite a relief to see American servicemen portrayed as they are, not demonized à la Fahrenheit 9/11 (I strongly recommend that if you have seen Michael Moore's dishonest documentary, that you watch FahrenHYPE 9/11, and/or Celsius 41.11 as a counterbalance).

Only those who are used to the leftist American media will find it "boring" or "subpar," as it isn't nearly as biased against America as most nightly news broadcasts are. In fact, this DVD shows the Iraqis celebrating in the streets upon the Americans' arrival in Baghdad, which is something that the vast majority of liberals will deny ever happened, and would do just about anything to keep the public from discovering. So if you're looking for a hack job denigrating our servicemen, you will be pretty upset after seeing this documentary, because all it contains is the truth, without nearly as much of a left-wing spin as al-Jazeera, the BBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, NPR, the NYT, the LAT, the WP, or any of the other "mainstream" media outlets. And for a liberal activist, that means it is highly offensive. Almost as offensive as Fox News Channel. LOL!

Now as for the DVD, it has stunning visuals. It begins with President Bush addressing the U.N., shows preparations for war, including training of our Troops, it shows some of Saddam's atrocities, and shows President Bush's ultimatum to Saddam and his Sons to leave Iraq within 48 hours. It shows the troops waiting anxiously to receive their orders, and the surprising confidence of our youngest soldiers. It discusses the Rumsfeld doctrine, our war strategy, the controversy of using so many special forces and so few regular troops vs. the Powell Doctrine. Leftists will hate this DVD because it reminds them of when President Bush had over 90% approval ratings, and it shows him leading us into war to remove the murderous Saddam Hussein regime, and having amazing success in doing so.

This DVD also includes a nice dose of shock and awe. It is amazing how precise the American GPS bombs are; the Republican Palace is absolutely decimated inside, completely gutted, while the exterior is largely undamaged, and the sidewalks outside are clear of rubble or debris. Only smoke damage near broken windows makes it obvious at first glance that anything at all happened inside. It shows a nice balance of daytime and nighttime activity, including a lot of special forces night vision footage including the rescue of PFC Jessica Lynch. In fact, this DVD pays a surprising amount of respect to our Special Forces; it is a nice little teaser to get you interested in learning more about our Special Ops forces.

The progress of the U.S. Military is stunning; our Troops advanced so rapidly on Baghdad they the supply lines were strung out to a dangerous degree; fortunately, we didn't lose very many lives due to this fact; we could have lost a hundred times as many people many billions of dollars of equipment had Saddam been able to attack our supply lines effectively. This DVD gives excellent, varied perspectives into the happenings involved in Coalition forces taking Iraq and the Capital, Baghdad, including both civilians getting caught in the crossfire/failing to stop at checkpoints (later to be found carrying AK-47s, etc.), to the Iraqis celebrating the Americans' arrival in Baghdad once they feel confident Saddam's henchmen won't step out of the shadows and mow them down for supporting America. It is cool to see the footage that most newsrooms refused to air, and you can imagine it really upsets liberals to see this bit of truth in undisputable video footage.

This DVD shows the 10-year dust storm that engulfed Iraq during the beginning stages of the assault, it shows American Naval forces clearing mines from harbors using dolphins, American Naval vessels launching cruise missiles, F/A-18 Hornets & Super Hornets, F-16s, F-117As, A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, AC-130 Spectre Gun ships, B2 Stealth Bombers, B1-B Lancer Bombers, B-52 Bombers, RQ-1 Predator Drones, M1A2 Abrams Tanks, M2A3 Bradleys, Humvees w/mounted TOW anti-Tank missiles or machine guns, Amphibious Assault Vehicles, JDAMs, Cruise Missiles, AWACS/JSTARS planes, refueling tankers, Blackhawk & Apache Helicopters, etc. etc. Oh, and LOTS of explosions. It's quite entertaining, and unlike Hollywood's creations, it's real.

It also tells the story of a helicopter pilot/officer who is lost in a Blackhawk going down during the war, it devotes a respectable amount of time covering this aspect of the war; it is surprisingly fair. Although it doesn't show leftists in America protesting our fallen heroes' funerals, spewing their vitriol and hate against military families, it at least treats the deaths of American servicemen with respect, IMHO. It really stays away from politics, which is refreshing from an organization such as National Geographic, whose documentaries routinely parrot leftist propaganda re: scientific studies.

A lighter moment in this amazing documentary touches on the Iraqi Information Minister (Mohammed Sayeed Al-Sahaf) denying reality, which will make many liberals uncomfortable, for obvious reasons.

Near the end, it shows the celebrations where Saddam's statue is toppled by Iraqis (with the help of American Marines) in the traffic circle (can't remember the name), and it ends with a brief review. This documentary contains a surprising amount of real footage (the entire documentary is real war footage with about 10 minutes of talking heads commenting interspersed across the DVD. I hope you will find this review helpful in gaining the understanding that this is truly a top-notch documentary. An action movie it is not, but it comes close, and there are many adrenaline moments. For a documentary, it is exciting, informative, entertaining, and enlightening, not to mention very well done. The five stars I awarded to this DVD are very well earned. December 30, 2005

Mediocre at best

A disappointing CD with little actual combat footage; I found it quite boring and I would not recommend it except for young teenagers or those who are entirely naive to written and photo histories of past US combat operations. For those with military experience there is little if any merrit to this CD. December 20, 2004

Great Visuals

This is a very good documentary even if the content is too liberal. What I enjoyed about it was the stunning visuals. True to the character of National Geographic the photography was simply excellent. I would recommend this video for that reason alone.

Documentaries are by nature presenting a point of view and this one is the typical liberal media outlook on war - any war - and very poor in its overall analysis of the results of achieving victory and what that will mean for the war on terrorism. Few documentaries I have ever seen go very deeply into what the causes and results of wars may be. Nothing is mentioned of the disruption of the flow of large sums of money to the terrorist or the denial of a large bureaucratic structure to the terror organizations etc. Typical superficial view of war and the practical realities behind the fighting.

But you can't beat the visuals. And what, after all, is the main reason for watching something on the screen? Visuals. The pictures are what this video is all about and worth every dime to see the footage shot.

The filming and narration is handled well. Tight and well edited all the way. I wish other documentaries would edit and control the flow of the documentary as well as this one. Good job. March 9, 2004

okay, but not outstanding documentary

While not a complete disappointment, this documentary could have been much better. Admittedly the filmmakers manage to cram quite a lot of information in the rather brief running time (1 hour), but it is too short.
After a very brief introduction about the reasons that led to this military conflict, 21 DAYS TO BAGHDAD shifts aboard carrier
vessel USS TARAWA, where we see marines training for the upcoming combat. The US strategy focussing on high tech, flexiblity and special forces is explained. Officers explain weatherforcast for military purposes. Then 21 DAYS TO BAGHDAD
details the story of this successful military campaign in day by day form. While we get to see all the familiar aspects of the conflict (the "shock and awe" aerial bombardments starting the war on 20/3, sandstorms delaying the advance of the Allied troops, the ludicrious antics of Iraqi "information" minister
Mohammed Saeed al Sahaf, Jessica Lynch's story, special forces operating behind enemy lines) a lot of the proceedings focus on an embedded journalist advancing with marines and a National
Geographic film team in Bagdad secretely filming the aerial bombardments. I was particularly impressed by this footage. I was also impressed by the combat footage, where marines fought for a bridge with Iraqi soldiers.
Again, there is a lot of information in this documentary, but in my view it lacks depth.
Extra features are impressive, but, once again, lack depth. There are bonus interviews with the journalists, which are quite interesting. They comment how they managed to film the aerial bombardments on the sly from the balcony of their hotel and the experience of being in the field together with the marine unit. There is also a feature called Interactive War Zone Map (= a day by day account of important events of the war with troop movements shown on a map.) Sounds interesting, but I wish the map would have been more detailed. An option to zoom in would also have been welcomed by me. Then there is a Tools of the War feature (files on war vehicles and weapons). It is divided into 3 sections (air, land, weapons). The e.g. weapon section consists of files on the following:
* GPS-guided bomb
* laserguided bomb
* cruise missile
* Javelin anti-tank missile
* bunker buster bomb
However, do not expect too much. Each "file" consists of a single image and a very brief description.
Rounding up the extra section of the DVD are three trailers for other National Geographic DVDs: INSIDE THE PENTAGON, VIETNAM`S UNSEEN WAR (about the conflict from the Vietnamese perspective; this indeed looks quite interesting) and LEWIS AND CLARKE: GREAT JOURNEY WEST. February 17, 2004

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