Occupation: Dreamland

For six weeks in 2004, the codirectors followed members of the 82nd Airborne around Fallujah, dogging a small platoon as its soldiers sat around arguing about supermodels or went out on night raids to round up possible insurgents. You'd expect either a liberal antiwar indictment or an embedded backslap for our boys over there, but what emerges is a counterpoint to the myth that all of the armed forces deployed in Iraq consist of brain-dead hicks just out to whup some ass. By giving these often thoughtful soldiers a forum, the duo has made something far chewier than the usual bumper-sticker polemics.