So I saw this finally. Great stuff.
How do people interpret all the references to the military in this film? There's quite a few, from the recruiter that's in a scene, to news reports etc.
Part of it is setting the film's context in history of course, but I was wondering what people thought of this.
Well at the time of the sniper attacks it was 2002, the country was still dealing with the aftermath of 9/11, and military operations in Afghanistan were just beginning. Therefore, military recruitment was in high demand at the time.
By the way, there is actually a goof that I'd like to point on that scence. Although the events in this movie took place in 2002, the Army recruiter is wearing the digital pattern camouflage ACU. The US Army didn't start wearing that uniform until 2005.
Hollywood always gets at least something wrong when it comes to the military.
I haven't seen the film nor do I intend to see it. From reading many pages of the saga on Wikipedia it seems John Mohammed's personal military record is still somewhat vague. Did he have any disciplinary incidents? What was his experience in the 1st Gulf War? PTSD? I bring this up because of the recent Navy Yard shooter. It seems that a few wanted to give him a general discharge which would have made working as a contractor with security clearance nearly impossible. It was the same with the Ft Hood shooter who no one wanted to have to deal with. He was an odd duck who was passed along by those hoping to get rid of him.
shareHollywood always gets at least something wrong when it comes to the military.
This movie was definitely made outside of Hollywood.
So much of everything made "outside" of Hollywood has financial backing FROM Hollywood these days. Independent distributors are bought out by the majors all the time.
It looks as though it had multiple production companies involved, which i imagine turned out quite good for the director.