This is a follow-up to my review of the film Severe Clear being released in March.
Shot by First Lieutenant Mike Scotti on his Mini-DV camera, and told through his own journal entries, Kristian Fraga’s “Severe Clear” is a first person account of the Marines who were on the front lines of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This is what they saw.
Robert L. Hanafin, Editorial Board Member, VT News
**SCREENERS AVAILABLE**
In this digital age of embedded reporters and filmmakers directing their “war” pictures from the internet, “Severe Clear” strips the barriers between audience and soldier, personalizing the fear, moral conundrum and sheer adrenaline rush of life on the battlefield. The personal story of Mike Scotti and the Marines in his unit is the backbone of this intimate, extreme and often times horrific tale.
The story begins with Scotti on a 40-day voyage across the Arabian Sea, aboard the USS Boxer, where his days are filled with physical training, tactical study, and mental preparation. For the Marines, who have been in a constant state of war since the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the political wrangling of world leaders and diplomatic debates over the merits of UN resolutions are nothing but a smoke screen for a war they all know is inevitable. So they train, blow off steam, and wait.
Shortly thereafter, President Bush addresses the nation and orders the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. As they push onto Baghdad, patriotism and youthful enthusiasm gradually gives way to the real, brutal horrors of war. As the resistance to their presence escalates, Scotti and his fellow soldiers are forced to come to grips with the magnitude of the situation they find themselves in.
Severe Clear is a motion picture that captures the chaos and complexity of war.
For additional information, please contact:
Falco Ink Publicity
Steve Beeman / Caitlin Speed
[email protected] / [email protected]
(212) 445-7100
Readers are more than welcome to use the articles I’ve posted on Veterans Today, I’ve had to take a break from VT as Veterans Issues and Peace Activism Editor and staff writer due to personal medical reasons in our military family that take away too much time needed to properly express future stories or respond to readers in a timely manner.
My association with VT since its founding in 2004 has been a very rewarding experience for me.
Retired from both the Air Force and Civil Service. Went in the regular Army at 17 during Vietnam (1968), stayed in the Army Reserve to complete my eight year commitment in 1976. Served in Air Defense Artillery, and a Mechanized Infantry Division (4MID) at Fort Carson, Co. Used the GI Bill to go to college, worked full time at the VA, and non-scholarship Air Force 2-Year ROTC program for prior service military. Commissioned in the Air Force in 1977. Served as a Military Intelligence Officer from 1977 to 1994. Upon retirement I entered retail drugstore management training with Safeway Drugs Stores in California. Retail Sales Management was not my cup of tea, so I applied my former U.S. Civil Service status with the VA to get my foot in the door at the Justice Department, and later Department of the Navy retiring with disability from the Civil Service in 2000.
I’ve been with Veterans Today since the site originated. I’m now on the Editorial Board. I was also on the Editorial Board of Our Troops News Ladder another progressive leaning Veterans and Military Family news clearing house.
I remain married for over 45 years. I am both a Vietnam Era and Gulf War Veteran. I served on Okinawa and Fort Carson, Colorado during Vietnam and in the Office of the Air Force Inspector General at Norton AFB, CA during Desert Storm. I retired from the Air Force in 1994 having worked on the Air Staff and Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon.
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