Has anyone seen The September Tapes?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Has anyone seen The September Tapes?

Posted: 8/1/2005 12:36:08 PM EDT

Just finished watching this film, and it is outstanding. This is a fictional documentary that is like a cross between Heart of Darkness and the Blair Witch Project.

The story follows a young American who sells his car and house to finance a journey to Afghanistan in late 2002, in the hopes of hunting down Bin Laden. He takes a cameraman and Afghan-American as a translator, and the three of them quickly find themselves getting far more than they bargained for, getting deeper and deeper in danger as they move closer to Bin Laden.

The ending of this film had me absolutely on the edge of my seat - this is great filmaking of a type you almost never see in the theatres.

I highly encourage you to rent it.

Posted: 8/1/2005 12:37:26 PM EDT

[#1]

Boy I know I saw this topic here before...........

Posted: 8/1/2005 12:42:00 PM EDT

[#2]

Loved the .22 AK.

Posted: 8/1/2005 12:44:51 PM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
Boy I know I saw this topic here before...........

It hasn't shown up in at least three months. I searched before posting.

Posted: 8/1/2005 12:49:48 PM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Boy I know I saw this topic here before...........

It hasn't shown up in at least three months. I searched before posting.

Yeah, but I remember it recently......hmmm

Posted: 8/1/2005 12:54:00 PM EDT

[#5]

Huh!

(I've had a short story idea something along those lines but have never sat down to actually write it, oh well, probably suck anyway).

I'll have to look this one up.

Posted: 8/1/2005 1:00:10 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
Just finished watching this film, and it is outstanding. This is a fictional documentary that is like a cross between Heart of Darkness and the Blair Witch Project.

The story follows a young American who sells his car and house to finance a journey to Afghanistan in late 2002, in the hopes of hunting down Bin Laden. He takes a cameraman and Afghan-American as a translator, and the three of them quickly find themselves getting far more than they bargained for, getting deeper and deeper in danger as they move closer to Bin Laden.

The ending of this film had me absolutely on the edge of my seat - this is great filmaking of a type you almost never see in the theatres.

I highly encourage you to rent it.

Thanks. I've been looking for something other than a Hollywood blockbuster.

Posted: 8/1/2005 4:38:08 PM EDT

[#7]

BTT for evening crew.

Posted: 8/1/2005 4:56:54 PM EDT

[#8]

I saw parts of this back in March. Unfortunately, I had to explain (multiple times) to the people I was with that it was a fictional movie, and not an actual documentary.

But it was certainly entertaining.

Posted: 8/1/2005 5:55:33 PM EDT

[#9]

cool.... thanks. I put it in my Netflix queue

Posted: 8/1/2005 6:10:47 PM EDT

[#10]

That was the most horrible moive I ever watched! The action sucked, the filotography was awful and the dialouge wasn't even that good.

Save the $5 and go watch Platoon again.

Posted: 8/1/2005 6:26:23 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
That was the most horrible moive I ever watched! The action sucked, the filotography was awful and the dialouge wasn't even that good.

Save the $5 and go watch Platoon again.

It isn't meant to be Platoon. Yes it is different, but I liked it a lot. I think it was made on a budget of less than $500,000.

Posted: 8/9/2005 5:31:08 PM EDT

[#12]

Waching it right now... pretty intense. Especially when you read the production notes beforehand.

ABOUT THE STORY
Less than a year after the terrorist attacks of September 11, a journalist/filmmaker
and his crew snuck into Afghanistan to do a story on the bounty hunters tracking Osama
Bin Laden. They wound up in Kabul asking questions and seeking information and
finding themselves the only Americans in a city where Americans are hated.
The footage shot by this team of guerilla filmmakers is the basis of SEPTEMBER
TAPES, a harrowing, emotional story about one man’s mission to discover the elusive
truth about the war and 9/11. In this rare look behind-the-scenes of war-torn
Afghanistan, the filmmaker, his cameraman, and their translator/guide find themselves
traveling in the middle of a battleground, camera in hand, capturing raw footage and
encountering dangerous Taliban fighters.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
A Q&A with Director Christian Johnston and
Actor/Producer Wali Razaqi
“September Tapes” is a hybrid of fact and fiction that intentionally blurs the lines
between what is real and what has been staged. Before embarking on their journey, the
filmmakers had an agenda and outline of what they hoped to film in Afghanistan – the
search for Bin Laden, the difficulty of shooting in a war zone, the enormous cultural gulf
between our country and theirs, and what it is like to be a stranger in a very strange land.
However, once they arrived in Kabul, the interviews they garnered, the access they were
given (or stumbled upon,) and the footage they were ultimately able to shoot was dictated
by hazard and chance. Most of the locals, including the Taliban, had no idea this was
anything other than an unscripted documentary being made by a group of crazy
Americans, and the results are as raw and uncensored as can be. Bullets seen whizzing by
the camera are genuine, live ammunition. Missiles flying through the air, and rubble on
the ground, are not props or set dressing; they are all REAL, and in this part of the world,
they are a part of everyday life.

Full Production Notes (.pdf)

Official Site
IMDb Write up

Posted: 8/9/2005 5:33:24 PM EDT

[#13]

I thought it was extremely corny but thats just me.

Posted: 8/10/2005 6:10:11 PM EDT

[#14]

I watched the "Making of" on the DVD today... and it seemed more lke they were able to arrange and stage a lot of the scenes that the production notes implied were "real".

Still they were not only the only American where they were (with the exception of a couple of SF guys they came across who pretty much wanted nothing to do with them) but also the only Westerners.

They definitely put their ases on the line for what was an ok movie. It wasn't terrible and it wasn't top notch.

Posted: 8/10/2005 6:12:25 PM EDT

[#15]

Tag. Gonna get this one.

Posted: 8/10/2005 6:14:20 PM EDT

[#16]

BTT to move to the Movie forum.

Posted: 8/11/2005 7:49:34 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
Tag. Gonna get this one.

If you get it on DVD I woudl highly recommend watching the making of. It was pretty interesting. I generally don't bother with most movies because all they are is a CGI F/X geek showing stuff on his computr and the behind the scenes stunds which kind of pull the curtain down on the great and powerful Oz. This movie was almost the opposite.

Posted: 9/29/2005 6:45:22 AM EDT

[#18]

for brohawk

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Has anyone seen The September Tapes?

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