The Last 600 Meters is an Iraq War documentary that chronicles the two deadliest battles of the war through the firsthand testimony of the Marines and soldiers who fought there. Directed by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Michael Pack, this film takes viewers into the heart of the 2004 battles of Najaf and Fallujah, where American forces faced some of the fiercest urban combat since the Vietnam War.

Synopsis

The Last 600 Meters focuses on two of the deadliest battles of the Iraq War, in Najaf in the South against the  Shiite Mahdi militia, and in Fallujah in the West against Sunni insurgents. The film tells the story of these battles, not through narration, but through the words and deeds of those who fought there. It tells the ground truth.

The Last 600 Meters is also an exciting action movie full of drama: murdered Blackwater contractors hanged from a bridge, hand to hand combat in an ancient underground cemetery, Special Forces breaking into Shiite strongman Muqtada al Sadr’s bedroom to find photos of American action movie stars, and heroic marines crossing a kill zone four times to rescue comrades in the deathtrap called Hell House.

Those on the ground, doing the fighting, also have to cope with decisions made far away in Washington.  Marines attack Fallujah only to be told to pull back.  US forces and Afghan commandoes are about to seize the grand mosque of Najaf until the Shiite leader Sistani comes to town.  Fallujah is finally cleared of terrorists but the leaders have all fled to nearby Ramadi. In the end, a sniper in the film put it, “Foreign policy, I don’t make it, I just deliver the last 600 meters of it.”

The interviews were conducted in 2007, when the marines and soldiers were only three years from the battles and their memories were still fresh and vivid. 

Watch this real-life movie to better understand modern warfare, from Fallujah to Gaza to Ukraine and beyond.

The Director

Michael Pack, founder of Manifold Productions, has spent over four decades creating award-winning documentaries for PBS. His approach to The Last 600 Meters follows his tradition of fact-based storytelling that lets subjects speak for themselves. Pack’s previous works include Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words and Rickover: The Birth of Nuclear Power, both nationally broadcast on PBS, among many others.

Watch the Film

The Last 600 Meters is available to stream now on Amazon Prime.

Explore More: Discover other Manifold Productions’s documentaries examining pivotal lives and moments in American history.