I'm not very good at English and sorry for many grammar mistakes. WEll, some people saying that this movie is propaganda and captured by anti-Russian federation but, I'm from Georgia from that little country. first of all south Osettia was Georgian territory until Russians took it. this movie is based on a true story u want how i know that? because i was there. i saw how they was killing our just normal people putting bombs in villages and killing people without any reason. and as u think Andy Garcia is not playing his role well. because Mikhail Saakashvili(ex.president of Georgia) was not that good he ordered and sent our boys to start the war he lied them that Russians attacked first and we started war but we didn't knew that. it was very hard moment for every Georgian people Russians started putting bombs into city Gori. and they reporters said in TV that they was arriving in Tbilisi. as u know Tbilisi is capital of Georgia. and other France and other country's helped us they're presidents came to Georgia and Russia stopped the war. it was longest 5 days of my life. and this movie is based on true story. that reporter is real too i met him in Gori and every details are correct. this movie is not anti-Russian or propaganda. if u want to see movie about war on based true story watch this and i think 5.6 is lower IMDb rating for this movie . :)

Good grief. What is a movie for? Entertainment, or education? Scores of American and British war films are educationally deficient, but marvellous entertainment. Frankly, I didn't know much about the Georgian conflict, but I didn't watch in order to be educated.It may be biased, but as a piece of entertainment, well, it worked for me. The cinematography and special effects were very good, the story engaging, and the acting, just fine. It drew me in and I genuinely enjoyed it. I might equally enjoy a film biased towards the Russian side, just as I've enjoyed films about Vietnam biased towards the American side (which most are).I don't understand why so many reviewers here have got on their high horses. If the film had been about some conflict between fictional countries, would they have been less critical? Would they have been able to concentrate on the story, the essence of which could be applied to many wars, including ones in which Americans or Brits have been involved and carried the lion's share of the blame?

We will start with the fact this film was released in 2011 and running 113 minutes,about about a War in 2008.That makes it a first film for that war. Second its about a war few even know happened as it lasted but 5 days and was up against the Olympics in China for media attention.Yes thats true,look it up. Third its from a smaller film company that spent its budget on location shooting it seems. Forth,the war involves my ancestral home country of Russia. Five,it also involved another country with boots on the ground AT OUR SIDE in Iraq,GEORGIA. Six ,some real interesting casting. Seven,the story is based on facts. Eight,its also a story of those forgotten press who live and die to get a story out,literally. Nine,its combat scenes are as intensely realistic as any I've seen. Ten,the other 9 reasons make it the kinda gem of a film we live for. Now to the war itself,this film contributes little to the understanding of why the war happened at all,but,isn't that true in many cases? Really people,BE HONEST !!!!! The casting,well,I turned in to see Heather Graham and Andy Garcia and Val Kilmer with other unknowns to see how it would mix and i wasn't to optimistic.Damned if Heather isn't killed in the opening scene and Val is little seen till he's killed late in the film,BUT Andy is good as the Georgian President but not really needed as I said earlier,it's really about the press,not politics. Now the press, thats Rupert Friend playing Thomas Anders, the reporter the story is built around, and he really does grow on you as the film moves along.AH,but Johnathon Schaech as Cpt. Rezo Avaliani ,a Georgian who saved Thomas in Iraq and then in Georgia has some acting career ahead !!!! As to the war itself,don't look to this movie as truth,as it said itself at the very beginning,the first casualty of war IS the truth.No,this story is as stated before,a tribute to the people who cover it.If your looking for a war gem of a film,SEE IT.

I could spend an hour writing a detailed play by play of the movie, but it's easier to say that yes... This is in fact a propaganda movie, so much so it uses the actual Georgian Army as "actors" for this film and using only Georgians as sources for the script.But with that aside, can it be considered a good movie regardless of it's fictional re-writing of history? Sadly this is also no, it has direct to DVD written all over it, If it hadn't been filmed in Georgia, using Georgian soldiers giving it a authentic look it would have nothing standing this movie up.I'll end this on a quote from Anna Neistat who works for "amnesty international" "This film portrays Russians and Ossetians as barbaric beasts and Georgians as peace angels." I couldn't sum it up any better Anna.