Skip to content
Helen M Jerome reviews
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 3216201000
- Running time: 575 minutes
- Year: 2006
- Pressing: 2006
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Discs: 4
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: Danish, English, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
- Widescreen: 1.78:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: 4*DVD 9
- Price: £39.99
- Extras: Audio Commentaries, Tour Of Duty Filming Over There Featurette, Weapons Debriefing Featurette
Directors:
- Chris Gerolmo, Greg Yaitaines, Nelson McCormick etc.
Executive Producer:
- Steven Bochco
Cast:
- Sgt. Chris ‘Scream’ Silas: Erik Palladino
Pvt. Frank ‘Dim’ Dumphy: Luke MacFarlane
Maurice ‘Smoke’ Williams: Kirk ‘Sticky Fingaz’ Jones
Pvt. Avery ‘Angel’ King: Keith Robinson
Pfc. Bo Rider: Josh Henderson
Brenda ‘Mrs B’: Mitchell Nicki Aycox
Tariq Nassiri: Omid Abtahi
Pfc. Esmeralda ‘Doublewide’ Del Rio: Lizette Carrion
Sergio Del Rio: Lombardo Boyar
Vanessa Dunphy: Brigid Brannagh
Terry Ryder: Sprague Grayden
One of the best things about the DVD format, is how it¹s making entire TV series available to be consumed as a whole.
Box-sets that collect the likes of brilliant and highly recommended HBO shows The Wire or even 24 give them fresh life. More like reading a novel or getting to grips with the complete Godfather Trilogy, perhaps, and giving an added intensity to the viewing experience. And that¹s certainly the case with this gripping, marathon 13-part Iraq War drama, Over There.
Executive produced by Steven Bochco, of Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue fame, and co-created, written and part-directed by Chris Gerolmo (who also sings the main theme song), this kicked up a bit of a storm in the States when originally screened on FX. Some right-wing commentators immediately dismissed it as anti-war and inaccurate, but you’d be advised to put aside any preconceptions, because above all, this is a hugely-involving snapshot of what young servicemen and women are experiencing right this minute. No value judgments are made, but the bravado, fear and helplessness of these twentysomethings against a backdrop of the confusion of war is a potent mix.
The core of the story concerns a diverse group of soldiers thrown together when they¹re posted to Iraq for their first tour of duty, under the command of Sergeant Scream, played by the outstanding Erik Palladino, of ER fame. From heroic quarterback Bo, intellectual Dim, revved-up Smoke, believer Angel and idealist Tariq, to the gritty female combatants, Mrs B and Doublewide, these rookies forge a tight unit.
They have to confront understandably inhospitable villagers, seek out insurgents, tackle tricky situations and just survive on a daily basis. Not to mention attempting to rescue an embedded journalist who is compromised and then kidnapped. And once you identify with these central characters, you¹ll be hooked.
Meanwhile the second, parallel narrative takes place back home where the soldiers¹ loved ones are shown as variously dysfunctional, drunk, unfaithful, lost, lonely and ill but all trying to struggle through. More soap opera in its style, this deliberately provides a sharp contrast to the buzzed-up adrenaline rush experienced by the soldiers as the story shifts back and forth. These domestic scenes take place in supermarkets, schools, bars and all-American living rooms. Will a bad mother find redemption? Will temptation lure a spouse into adultery? Can a marriage survive after the heroic husband has his leg blown off?
No political agenda is at work here, just an attempt to show what it¹s like to be a stranger in the midst of moral ambiguity in a strange land, and still do your job. Bochco and particularly Gerolmo, who also wrote the powerful movie Mississippi Burning, both deserve plaudits for getting underneath the skin of the conflict and revealing what the news channels rarely show.
It might make you feel uncomfortable and occasionally shocked, but you definitely get to feel like you¹re walking a mile or two in the combatants’ standard issue boots.
As for the extras, well it’s worth checking out the three separate commentaries on specific episodes by crew and cast, which are variously insightful and entertaining.
And make time to watch the 80-minute documentary on the making of Over There, if only to see how a dusty Californian ranch doubled for the Iraqi desert, and to hear Chris Gerolmo honestly describe how the crew worked miracles on their “rinky-dink cable budget”.
PICTURE
SOUND
EXTRAS
OVERALL 
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.