Word: phantoms
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...grim game of war that is frequently played over the North Atlantic, a giant Soviet TU-95 Bear reconnaissance plane last September zoomed across the invisible line that marks the U.S. defense zone off Iceland. In five minutes, two American F-4 Phantom II interceptors zoomed up from Iceland's Keflavik Airport to draw alongside and escort the trespasser out of the forbidden Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). Last week the U.S. Air Force released a remarkable set of pictures of the interception, photographs so sharp that the faces and gestures of the Soviet crewmen were visible...
...tank fire. But fierce resistance by Iranian army troops, Revolutionary Guards and urban guerrillas halted the invaders at a key bridge over the Karun River, north of the embattled city. As the Iraqis shelled other major towns in oil-rich Khuzistan province, Iran struck back at enemy positions with Phantom jet and helicopter attacks. Tehran radio broadcasts claimed that Iranian ground troops had pushed the Iraqis back on the northern fringes of the 500-mile invasion front. The week's grim work left hundreds dead on both sides. Houses, schools and mosques lay in ruins. Vital oil pipelines were...
...Sunni Muslims. Yet they are allied with the Shi'ite Persians of Iran, whom devout Sunnis consider schismatics. Revolutionary Iraq is fighting its war against Iran with Soviet rifles, tanks, planes and missiles. Its new ally, the ultraconservative monarchy of Saudi Arabia, defends itself against Iran's U.S.-made Phantom jets with the latest American equipment. As Iran chants its hatred of "the Great Satan America," its armed forces are surprising the world, thanks largely to the huge stockpiles of U.S. arms laid away by the late Shah and the skills of U.S.-trained Iranian pilots...
Iran's only offensive action was in the air. After a mysterious lapse of ten days, Iranian Phantom fighter-bombers struck industrial targets and oil installations deep inside Iraq. American-trained Iranian pilots seemed to be particularly adept at evading the Soviet-supplied surface-to-air missiles (SAMS). One successful U.S.-taught tactic: diving straight toward the oncoming missile, then veering off at the last instant...
...Lynch artfully manipulates these components--evading scariness and melodrama, while adding historical perspective and social commentary--to tell the true story of a tormented soul searching for dignity and compassion. Lynch's film is what Frankenstein should have been, what The Hunchback of Notre Dame merely hinted at, what Phantom of the Opera aspired to: a compelling tragedy...