Saving Jessica Lynch

original title:
Saving Jessica Lynch
country / year of production:
original length:
120 min. , color
premiere:
9 November 2003
genre:
based on:
Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief. Because Each Life Is Precious: Why an Iraqi Man Came to Risk Everything for Private Jessica Lynch. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.
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plot synopsis:
On the morning of March 23, the 507th Maintenance Company, a non-combat unit comprised of cooks, mechanics and clerks, cross the Euphrates River and find themselves entering the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. Exhausted and lost - having fallen behind the larger military convoy they were meant to be a part of - the 507th tries desperately to retrace their route when suddenly they come under fire from the Iraqis, their exit blocked by vehicles and debris. At the end of the firefight, 11 American soldiers are dead and nine wounded - among them a 19-year-old clerk from Palestine, West Virginia, Pfc. Jessica Lynch - who was injured when the Humvee she was riding in slammed into a tractor-trailer during the ambush. Captured by the Iraqis, Lynch is taken to Saddam Hussein hospital where - uncertain of the fates of her friends - she awaits medical attention, far from home, alone and frightened. Meanwhile, Mohammed Al-Rehaief, an Iraqi lawyer and father of a young daughter himself, visits his wife who is a nurse at the hospital. At the hospital, he learns of the young American soldier who is being held prisoner by the Fedayeen. In spite of his wife’s fears and protests, Mohammed is haunted by concern for the young woman. Knowing that his involvement will put his own family at risk, he decides that he must find a way to help her.
literature:
Rick Bragg, Jessica Lynch. I am a Soldier, too: The Jessica Lynch Story. New York: Knopf, 2003.
remarks:
Lynch`s book "I am a Soldier, too: The Jessica Lynch Story" was published on November 11, only two days after the film premiered - on Veteran`s Day.

The film begins with a disclaimer that scenes and events, in whole and in part, are recreated. read rewritten

The usage of English and Arabic is and isn't spoken in the film
the ruthless fedayeen who push a bus in front of Lynch's convoy in order to trap them into a shootout all speak Arabic whereas the nice Iraqis in the hospital where Lynch was later "rescued," they inexplicably speak English.
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