GREEN ZONE (15) Action/thriller. Matt Damon, Khalid Abdalla, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, Amy Ryan, Yigal Naor. Director: Paul Greengrass.

When American and British forces withdraw completely from Iraq – a strategy that seems unthinkable seven years into the campaign – the lasting legacy won’t be peace and democracy.

It will be a deep-rooted suspicion that the weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), the supposed justification for the invasion, never existed.

British filmmaker Paul Greengrass, who lives in Henley, and actor Matt Damon, the driving forces behind the Bourne movies, posit one scenario in this riveting thriller set.

Based on the book Imperial Life In The Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Green Zone is a breathless two hours of adrenaline-pumping action and political manoeuvring that places as much emphasis on emotional dialogue as the set pieces.

The film opens with a deafening bang on March 19, 2003 in Baghdad as Saddam Hussein's trusted general, Al Rawi (Naor), flees his headquarters in the midst of an Allied blitzkrieg.

Four weeks later, US Army warrant officer Roy Miller (Damon) and his team careen through the capital on the hunt for WMDs.

A tip-off from a disgruntled local, Freddy (Abdalla), leads Miller and his crew to a meeting of Saddam’s high-ranking advisers, including Al Rawi.

The general escapes but another man is apprehended and Miller uses Freddy as a translator to interrogate the suspect about a notebook in his possession.

“He says the book has names and locations of El Rawi’s safe houses,” reveals Freddy.

Back on base, Miller bypasses Pentagon officials and delivers the book to local CIA chief Gordon Brown (Gleeson), who asks for discretion. “I thought we were all on the same side,” replies Miller. “Don’t be naive,” mocks Brown.

Green Zone is distinguished by Greengrass’s direction, galloping through Baghdad with handheld cameras so we remain uncomfortably close to Miller as he risks his life for a country he was entrusted to tear apart.

Damon delivers a passionate performance as a soldier with a conscience who doesn’t understand the full extent of the conspiracy.

Kinnear and Gleeson relish their roles as duplicitous political pawns and Abdalla curries sympathy as the Iraqi interloper, enraged by the arrogance of his so-called American saviours.