# Shadow Company



## lou133 (4 May 2006)

I don't know if any of you watches The hour on CBC Newsworld, but yesterday, they talked about a documentary called Shadow Company. It's about private security companies in Iraq and other places. Go to http://www.shadowcompanythemovie.com to see a little trailer. I heard it shown in Toronto for free Friday night, but I forgot where. (useless fact I suppose) All I know that it's for some film festival.


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## Enzo (10 May 2006)

Caught that episode, I've been interested in seeing this movie, but I doubt it'll make it out here anytime soon. I may have to catch it on DVD. Strombolopolopolopoulous appears to be enamored by those in the industry (see his interview with the head of Global Risk that followed shortly).

Do you have any questions or thoughts about this subject? Or are you just gauging a reaction to this movie by those who may have seen it?


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## Big Red (10 May 2006)

The preview seems to suggest that the movie will show the bad side of contracting. To me it looks like they found the worst guys in the industry to appear in the film.  Most contracts forbid contact with the media, and even if they didn't I can't imagine any GOOD operators who are willing to go on the record. Some of the 'personalities' interviewed really don't have the in country experience to comment on the current situation.


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## KevinB (11 May 2006)

Big Red -- I believe a friend of ours did an interview for it (3C Rob...)
  However the fact that they are refering to our profession as modern day mercenaries leads one to see a little bias.


I offered my thoughts on that rather worthless discussion board belonging to the movie.


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## Big Red (12 May 2006)

Yeah, I forgot about that interview. He's a good guy. From what I understand he requested afterwards that it not appear....and they didn't comply.  There were others interviewed who are not so credible.


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## KevinB (13 May 2006)

Roger that Bro!


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## marlene (14 Sep 2006)

I have seen the film and enjoyed it.  I felt that the filmmakers did their best to show both sides of the industry. The people interviewed for the film appeared knowledgeable, however who knows.  I know very little about this business, being a female and not being in the business myself.  The fact is there is very little real information regarding this industry, one of the reasons there is bound to be so much conjecture and guesswork.  It's something that fascinates me and I have therefore been attempting to learn as much as possible about it for the past few years through various sources and in fact have written a minor article on it (NOTE: I usually write outdoor articles, I am NOT a journalist). 

If you only saw the trailer for it, it's possible you only saw the most sensational parts - I think it would be great if someone with far more knowledge than myself watched the entire film, commentaries, etc. and then published their opinion on it.  I would be very interested.

If the filmmakers did in fact use someone's interview after they asked for it not to be shown, then I find that very unfortunate and lacking in integrity on the filmmakers part.   Obviously, it wasn't too clever of the inteviewee to grant the interview in the first place though was it? 

So, I would love to hear some opinions from those who have some knowledge and have seen the entire film.

Marlene


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## The Bread Guy (29 Sep 2006)

Bought the DVD:

http://www.shadowcompanythemovie.com/

and enjoyed it so much, I'm having a film night to show it to my friends:
http://milnewstbay.pbwiki.com/MovieNight13Oct06

Some of the reviews I read indicate that both the lefties and righties were not entirely satisfied (lefties - you actually make some of them look not too nasty; righties - you talk too much about the money).

Even has a former Canadian infantry officer (sounding a bit academic) talking about contractors.

Canadian production, well done, maybe some of the subtitles could be a bit bigger, but well worth the $.


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## marlene (29 Sep 2006)

Glad to see someone else watched and enjoyed Shadow Company.  The film night you're having for your friends is a great idea - undoubtedly will stir up some interesting discussions as a result.

Marlene


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