"5 Days of War" (2011) -- Practice Your Critical Thinking

I try to watch war movies that purport to be based on true stories, and many that I have seen have been both educational and moving. Some stories must truly be told, and film is an effective channel for helping people know more about the truth and human nature.

But a good dose of critical thinking is always needed, and this movie is an excellent platform for practicing critical thinking and the separation of emotion and biased thoughts from actual fact or an effort to present a situation in a balanced, objective way.

You should watch it for that purpose only, and probably NOT to learn about the 5-Day Russia/South Ossetia-Georgia war of 2008, seeing how it is funded by the Georgian government.

The movie starts with the line "The first casualty when war comes is truth." (1918 quote attributed to Hiram Johnson, a US senator) Very good line. After watching the movie and researching the content, the use of that line actually seems to be quite ironic.

Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1486193/
Japanese DVD title = 5  デイズ

Here's my recommendation:

1. First, watch the movie without reading too much about it and note your reactions.

2. Second, go read about the 2008 5 Day War in a number of sources. Starting with Wikipedia is fine, but make sure you go to the External Links at the bottom of the also try to read reports by the EU or UN Investigation Commission or Human Rights Watch.

3. Third, read about how the movie was funded and why it was created. Think about the 3Bs:
Background (where did it come from),
Biography (who financed and/or created it and why),
Bias (what part of the story are they ignoring or misrepresenting).