Some good ideas floating around and ahead of its time in many regards, yet ultimately more interesting than great.

Watkins' active, roving eye is tied down and calmed by his rare use of 35mm, and the now-familiar core of the scifi-ish plot has the same effect. As usual for Watkins, though, dramatic elements are subservient to the film's complex commentary on war, the media as a technology of power, and social resistance. Here, for the first two, it is most interesting as a reference point in their evolution. The final conversation between the student and the operator, though, is still extremely relevant.