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Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

A revealing portrait of nationalistic nonsense

Nineteen-year-old soldier Billy Lynn (newcomer Joe Alwyn, perfectly cast) performs a heroic deed in Iraq that was caught on camera and went viral. As a result, he and his Bravo Company are temporarily brought back to the States halfway through their tour to take part in a mindless, rah-rah halftime show at a Thanksgiving football game. They prefer the war. Ang Lee’s adaptation of Ben Fountain’s highly nuanced, subtly observant novel, at once sweet and bleak, is an edgy sit, deftly revealing the huge gap between the reality of the Iraq war and most Americans’ perceptions of it. (113 min)