>
> four, another important point, i think, is that none of the military are
> signaling that they are doing this for sport, that they are laughing as
> people blow up. i think a lot of pop culture refs to this sort of thing
> would individualize it: they get pleasure out of the sport of killing
> people, that something about what they do is unique to them, as individuals.
> thus leading people to conclude that it's just aberrant individuals.
>
I'm not sure I agree with this. Not that Gavras/Arulpragasam are individualizing anything, necessarily, but the military are clearly treating it as sport. The violence opens on a relatively unambiguous note, with the heavyset driver's exclamation "boom!" at 1:11. They rush to beat everyone they can, regardless of whether they're bystanders or someone they'll shoot in five seconds. And of course "sport," big game hunting, is exactly what's evoked in the minefield - the gingers are forced to run like animals while their executioners snipe at them from jeeps, as on a safari.