![]() She sees it as a necessary reflection of the past 13 years, to go back and revisit with the soldiers who lived and the families of those who did not. With a companion documentary to the miniseries in the works, Raddatz’s recounting of this tale of tragedy and hope is far from over. He felt it was a chance to preserve this young man’s legacy, and let his memory live on, and his heroism be presented to a worldwide audience.” “He was staying in housing at Fort Hood, and every morning, he would say ‘good night,’ and when he got up, he would say ‘good morning.’ It reminded him at least twice a day that he had this responsibility. “I remember one of the actors telling me that he kept a framed photo of his real-life counterpart, who was deceased, next to his bed,” Bernstein recalls. ![]() One of the most challenging aspects of filming was the tremendous emotional responsibility the actors felt portraying real-life characters-some who were present during filming, as technical advisors and mentors, and some who had died in battle-and one that created a bond that has endured beyond filming. He was so brave.’ And that is such a wonderful legacy for this series to have.” The actor’s hugging her and I said, ‘Are you okay?’ And she said, ‘This is what my son saw on his last night. There was smoke because of the special effects. Raddatz recalls an evening she spent on the set with the mother of one of the soldiers who was killed during the battle and the actor who played her son. And some felt experiencing the set was part of a healing process of sorts. Some who visited were overwhelmed at seeing such a faithful recreation of that terrible place. This tremendous attention to the authenticity of the sets was not only a visceral experience for the seasoned war correspondent, but for the soldiers and their families, as well. You walk those authentic streets, garbage scattered everywhere, a picture of Muqtada al-Sadr, and you see all the things you saw … it’s a gut punch.” “To walk onto that set for the first time and to see this city I walked around, where soldiers lost their lives, where families were shattered,” Raddatz says, “, to see it built again was, to me, a monument to these brave soldiers and families. After the Army graciously granted permission to set up filming at Fort Hood (where, to wit, the actors lived and worked for the duration of the two-month shoot), it also allowed filmmakers to recreate Sadr City, an undertaking monumental in scope and scale and extraordinary in its verisimilitude. Perhaps one of the most remarkable elements of the production, and one National Geographic was committed to creating in the most intricate detail, was the set-the largest back lot ever constructed in North America. From putting the actors through weeks of pre-filming boot camp with former active-military personnel to check-ins with on-set tech consultants for direction on every nuance, from the proper closure of the Velcro on the flak jackets to the correct application the chinstraps on the helmets. This profound level of authenticity is a hallmark of the series and one Raddatz is thrilled to be able to share with audiences. Their neighbors didn’t want them to do it, but they went to work for the Americans because they thought it was the right thing to do.” ![]() “To tell that story-it’s a story of so many interpreters-it is so complicated and so deep. “The interpreters in Iraq, the interpreters around the world, are not talked about enough,” Raddatz says.
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