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“When I understand my enemy well enough to defeat him, then in that moment, I also love him.” So begins the 2013 film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s classic sci-fi novel Ender’s Game. Neither achieving box office nor critical success, the movie still evokes a wide range of reactions. Especially when it comes to its ambiguous relationship to the origin…
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Auteur Sam Peckinpah is most famous for The Wild Bunch, his blistering take on the Western. Few outside the aficionados bother to mention Cross of Iron, Peckinpah’s foray into the Good War, and one that earned him pans upon its initial release. Yet despite its rough start and later relegation to mass cultural obscurity, the work has rightfully garnered a committed if dwindling following. Including some of the most accomplished filmmakers of our time. Van and Lyle welcome author and combat vet Adrian Bonenberger onto the show to make sense of the glorious, no-holds-barred mess. And why it still haunts us with its cackle.
Further Reading
“All Loud on the Eastern Front: Peckinpah’s Cross of Iron Revisited,” by Andrew Stimpson
The Road Ahead, edited by Adrian Bonenberger and Brian Castner
The Disappointed Soldier, by Adrian Bonenberger
Afghan Post, by Adrian Bonenberger
The Wrath-Bearing Tree
Cross of Iron Trailer
Teaser from the Episode
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Scottish filmmaker Armando Iannucci’s In the Loop, a satire about the lead-up to the Iraq War, never achieved the household success of Veep (Iannucci’s later HBO series). Yet, D.C. staffers have come to see it as a cult classic, and there is much to be gleaned from the black comedy beyond the predictable, Beltway absurdities. Van and Lyle have the acclaimed journalist Spencer Ackerman on the show to discuss his own role in the film’s creation, as all three exchange biting laughs and commentary along the way. Especially about the rotting tooth that is Washington.
Bonus: In addition to dissecting the film, the first 30 minutes of this episode are an oral history of Spencer Ackerman’s experience with the making of In The Loop.
Further Reading
“How to succeed in Hollywood without really trying” (2009), by Spencer Ackerman
“That’s Me and Him From The Sopranos” (2009), by Armando Iannucci
Reign of Terror (2022), by Spencer Ackerman
Iron Man Vol. 1 (2025), by Spencer Ackerman and Julius Ohta
Forever Wars Newsletter, by Spencer Ackerman
Perils of Dominance, by Gareth Porter
In The Loop Trailer
Teasers from the Episode
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Van and Lyle jumped on the mic to record some stuff for Bang-Bang, but started off just musing about what just happened in the presidential election. This is their wide-ranging conversation, which explores why Kamala Harris lost, American fascism, India-China rivalry, and where Democrats go from here.
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Arguably the most successful revolutionary film of all time, Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers boasts many legacies. For film buffs, its import derives from its landmark status in the pantheon of Italian neorealism and political cinema. For anti-imperialists, its value comes from its hardnosed but sympathetic depictions of armed struggle. And for imperialists or right-wing strongmen, the film has been deployed as a realistic guidebook for counterinsurgency. Van and Lyle relate these competing readings to the War on Terror and the latest debates around Gaza, Palestine, and liberation.
A Savage War of Peace (1977), by Alistair Horne
Discourse on Colonialism (1955), by Aimé Césaire
The Wretched of the Earth (1961), by Franz Fanon
“Negroes are Anti-Semitic Because They’re Anti-White” (1967), by James Baldwin
“Open Letter to the Born Again” (1979), by James Baldwin
On Violence (1970), by Hannah Arendt
“No regrets from an ex-Algerian rebel immortalized in film” (2007), Interview with Saadi Yacef
“The Communists and the Colonized” (2016), Interview with Selim Nadi
Hamas Contained (2018), by Tareq Baconi
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine (2020), by Rashid Khalidi
Battle of Algiers Trailer
Teaser from the Episode
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“We tortured some folks.” Katherine Bigelow and Mark Boal’s blockbuster on the leadup to Bin Laden’s assassination was alternately ballyhooed and panned upon its release. Fans praised its purported cinematic achievements while critics lamented its alleged militarism or pro-torture sympathies. What’s remarkable today is the attention it received in all directions, perhaps a universal attention no longer possible in a society so fragmented and lost. Van and Lyle try to make sense of the movie as a contested event, and what its ambiguous ending might tell us about what came next. They also recall where they were when Obama ordered Seal Team Six to pull that trigger.
Further Reading
Alfreda Frances Bikowsky, Wiki Entry
Michael Scheuer, Wiki Entry
Imperial Hubris (2004), by Michael Scheuer
“Fake CIA Vaccine Campaign” (2014), by Todd Summers and J. Stephen Morrison
Reign of Terror (2021), by Spencer Ackerman
Subtle Tools (2021), by Karen Greenberg
Homeland (2024), by Richard Beck
Zero Dark Thirty Trailer
Teaser from the Episode
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Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin (no relation to Lyle) claims the first scene of Jacob’s Ladder was inspired by his own sense of being stuck in a rut, and the prevailing premonitions of doom that came of that. But the work itself comes off as something just as social as it is private, and even as a unique if at times blind-spotted meditation on U.S.-led violence and impunity. Van and Lyle explore the virtues and limitations of this genuinely anti-war film, as well as what the classic dark trip tells us about the American past and present.
Reading List
Jacob’s Ladder, Wiki Entry
The Stranger (1942), by Albert Camus
The Mersault Investigation (2015), by Kamel Daoud
Poisoner in Chief (2019), by Stephen Kinzer
The Deaths of Others (2011), by John Tirman
Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Victims (1979), Edward Said
Jacob’s Ladder Trailer
Video Teaser
Song credit: “Dumpster Fire,” by The Great Heights Band, feat. Rauli V.
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Lyle had been serving as a marine officer in and around the Helmand province for about five months before Rolling Stone published “The Runaway General” (June 2010), the explosive profile of General Stanley McChrystal and his entourage. Michael Hasting’s account led to the general’s immediate ouster as NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander in Afghanistan, and in 2012—about a year before the journalist’s own mysterious death—Hastings published The Operators, his book-length version of the same story. War Machine is the darkly satirical rendition of that book, and Van and Lyle have much to say about the movie’s didactic critique of counterinsurgency and implied critique of empire.
Reading List
The Operators (2012), by Michael Hastings
“The Runaway General” (2010), by Michael Hastings
“Who Killed Michael Hastings?” (2013), by Benjamin Wallace
American Cipher: Bowe Bergdahl and the U.S. Tragedy in Afghanistan (2019), by Matt Farwell and Michael Ames
The Afghanistan Papers (2021), by Craig Whitlock
Human and Budgetary Costs of the U.S. War in Afghanistan (2022), Watson Institute
“Democracy Doesn’t Come in a Box” (2019), by Lyle Jeremy Rubin, et al.
War Machine Trailer
Video teaser from the episode:
Song credit: “Dumpster Fire,” by The Great Heights Band, feat. Rauli V.
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In 2011, the combat cameraman Miles Lagoze arrived in Helmand province, Afghanistan, tasked with manufacturing propaganda-friendly visuals and audio. In 2018, Lagoze released Combat Obscura, his documentary bringing together 70 minutes of recorded footage of his fellow marines, all originally left on the cutting room floor. The result was inconvenient enough for the U.S. government that it threatened (but ultimately abandoned) legal action. Van and Lyle discuss the film’s most endearing and vicious moments, as well as everything in between. They also reflect on their own roles in the war machine around the same time.
Further Reading
Whistles from the Graveyard (2023), by Miles Lagoze
No Good Men Among the Living (2014), by Anand Gopal
“The Other Afghan Women” (2021), by Anand Gopal
“The Afghan Women Left Behind” (2022), by Rozina Ali
“‘How Did This Man Think He Had the Right to Adopt This Baby?’” (2022), by Rozina Ali
“The Civilian Casualty Files” (2021), by Azmat Khan, et al.Song credit: “Dumpster Fire,” by The Great Heights Band, feat. Rauli V.
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Welcome to Bang-Bang! A show about war movies, with an anti-imperialist twist. The hosts—Van Jackson and Lyle Jeremy Rubin—are military veterans, antiwar advocates, and lovers of film.
In every episode, we grapple with the pain, humor, and contradictions of our war-addled culture. Our medium for that exploration happens to be war films we all know and love (and sometimes hate).
This teaser from our first episode—where we dove into a 2018 documentary called Combat Obscura—hopefully gives a sense of our vibe.
Subscribe today—Bang-Bang! ✌️
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.bangbangpod.com/subscribe
