British documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield's (Ghosts, Biggie & Tupac, Kurt & Courtney) provocative drama recreates a real-life incident that took place in the province of Haditha in Iraq in November 2005.

The recreation stars ex-marines Elliot Ruiz, Andrew McLaren, and Eric Mehalacopoulos, and was filmed in what you could easily take to be Iraq, even though the film was shot in Jerash, Jordan. Broomfield directed, produced, and co-wrote the script.

US marines are on patrols. Iraqi insurgents, shown here as ex-Iraqi army none too happy to have been disbanded, are in and out of houses plotting.

One day, as marines follow their designated daily patrol route, a couple of insurgents move in with appropriate weaponry to take out an armoured vehicle.

Interestingly, families living nearby spot the terrorists and instantly pack up and are shown running away with their belongings. They know that once insurgents become neighbours, it's safer to get out, however much upheaval that causes.

Broomfield shows how effective the insurgents are at undermining American efforts to win over ordinary people. If the insurgents bomb a convoy, they know the marines will respond by hurting innocent people, with the net effect being they lose the trust and respect of the very people they are trying to protect.

It's horrible and depressing and with Nick Broomfield at the helm, it's informative and very, very real.

The marines are portrayed sympathetically as victims, attacked, wounded, and forced to respond in the way they have been trained.

It also raises questions about blame: when events occur at great speed, with soldiers acting under extreme stress are they culpable? Can marines in the line of fire be accused of murder? Those involved in the incident are currently on trial at Camp Pendleton, California and decisions on whether they will be found guilty have yet to be made.

Battle for Haditha is certainly the best of the bunch of films that comment on the Iraqi war experience so far and it deserves to be seen for that reason. It doesn’t take sides, but allows you to judge who’s in the wrong and if the Americans and the British are getting it right, or not.