THE 100 BEST WAR MOVIES: 14. The Outpost (2020)

 

                “The Outpost” is based on Jake Tapper’s book The Outpost:  An Untold Story of American Valor.  Tapper was not embedded like Sebastian Junger in “Restrepo”, but the soldier behavior is authentic due to Tapper doing extensive interviews with the participants.  Rod Lurie (“The Last Castle”) was a good choice as director since he graduated from West Point and served in the Army.  Some of the participants acted as technical advisers and a few even act in the film. The cast included several sons of famous actors/singers – Milo Gibson, Scott Eastwood, and James Jagger. And some grandsons – Will Attenborough and Scott Coffey (Alan Alda).  It was filmed in Bulgaria where an accurate mock-up of the post was reconstructed.  The movie got the stamp of approval from Gold Star families who attended a private screening.

The movie leads with background that basically tells the military history neophytes that locating a base in a valley surrounded by mountains is not a good idea.  Combat Outpost Kamdesh was called “Camp Custer”, but could better have been called “Camp Dien Bien Phu”.  The movie sets the menacing scenario early on with the arrival of new targets by way of a nighttime helicopter ride.  The naïve newbies are informed the choppers don’t dare ingress except on a moonless night.  At daybreak, the camera pans over the surrounding mountains to give the audience a clear idea of the lunacy of locating an outpost there.  Welcome to the Alamo.  Sure enough, at the 6:30 mark, the first shots are fired by Taliban fighters hiding in the rocks on a slope.  And meet the American army in Afghanistan because after the elimination of those insurgents, Staff Sgt. Gallegos (Jacob Scipio) physically abuses sad sack Pfc. Yunger (Alfie Stewart) for firing close to him.  Another soldier has a hashish problem.  However, before you get the impression that the movie is a hit piece on the American military, the movie settles into a realistic portrayal of the dynamics within a unit isolated in a post surrounded by the enemy.  If you haven’t seen “Restrepo”, some might be shocked by how the soldiers talk to each other and interact.  As Specialist Carter (Caleb Landry Jones) complains, it’s like living in a frat house.  His inability to participate in the towel-snapping gets him ostracized.  Those familiar with the modern American army in Iraq and Afghanistan (see “The Kill Team”) will notice that none of these men talk about getting their first kill.  They have more of a Vietnam attitude of just surviving.  Their mission matches their position – hopeless.  Their commanding officer Capt. Keating (Orlando Bloom) tries to implement the strategy of wooing the locals away from the Taliban with infrastructure funds, but it’s a pipe dream and his men know it.  One speaks for all:  “We want their hearts and minds, they want our blood and guts.”  The movie only swipes at the brass, but it is clear the REMFs are clueless and the Rules of Engagement are ridiculous.  The cynical view of the counterinsurgency efforts is personified by Staff Sgt. Romesha (Scott Eastwood).  He’s the kind of guy you’re going to need when the shit hits the fan.  That won’t be long because the foreshadowing clearly indicates to fasten your seat belts.  You’ll need to keep your seat belt on for 35 minutes of unrelenting combat as you wonder if there will be as many survivors as in the Alamo.

ACTING:   A              

ACTION:   A+  (10/10)

ACCURACY: A

PLOT:  A               

REALISM:  A

CINEMATOGRAPHY:   A

SCORE:  C

 

SCENE:  the battle

 

QUOTE:    Romesha:  “We’re taking this bitch back”

                “The Outpost” was intended to pay tribute to the soldiers at Camp Keating and it does so. It hits several themes: the brotherhood of the men, the brass is stupid, putting a base on low ground with the enemy controlling the high ground is not a good strategy, and the Afghanistan National Army sucked. Although the movie lauds the common soldier, it does make it clear the war they were fighting in was FUBAR.  The ensemble of mostly unknown actors is excellent and we get a star-making turn by Eastwood.  Orlando Bloom was the box office get and his role reminds of Guy Pearce in “The Hurt Locker” (you’ll see what I mean.)  The actors behave like soldiers.  I do not know if there was a boot camp, but they seem comfortable with the language and the interaction.  If you knew little about American soldiers, you’d mistake hate for love.  This is why the Carter character is crucial.  While a cliched redemption character, he represents the typical soldier who will give his life for a comrade, no matter their relationship.  The best moment in the film comes at the end when a counselor asks him if Mace (the man who he risked his life to save) was his friend and he simply says “no”.  There is some character development, especially Romesha, Yunger, and Carter, but there is a bit of “Black Hawk Down” in the “who was that?” deaths.  (The one who shows a picture of his dog dies.  Kudos for tweaking that cliché.)  The enemy is totally faceless, aside for some Afghan elders who look 80 years-old, but probably were 40ish.  The fighters are fodder, but there are enough of them and they have mortars and RPGs so the assault is very hairy.

                The movie is basically two parts (although technically it is divided between the various commanding officers).  The first part touches on the hearts and minds strategy and throws in the occasional harassment of the outpost, but it is mainly focused on portraying the lives of the men.  It is very effective at this.  By the time you get to the second part, which is the battle, you do care about the men.  The combat is not quite Korean, but certainly kick-ass.  It is reminiscent of “Danger Close”, but more intimate as the hand-held cameras put us in the thick of it.  Like being in a Humvee under fire.  The deaths are unpredictable and random.  Two of the commanders’ deaths are shocking and that’s before the final battle.  The combat is intense and suspenseful.  You’ll be amazed that these same men who were grabbing ass the night before are risking ass by running through fire to help each other.  We may be sending frat boys overseas, but they step up like a Band of Brothers when the going gets tough.

                .  This movie was necessary to remind us that there were actual battles after the easy initial conquest of the country.  The battle was a pyrrhic victory in a pyrrhic war.  But that wasn’t the fault of the men of Bravo Troop 3-61 Cavalry.  They did us proud and now their battle is the most famous in the war.  It is one of the best battle movies ever made and compares well to “Black Hawk Down”.

HISTORICAL ACCURACY:   My research indicates the movie is admirably accurate.  The biggest problem is with the compression of time, which is a common fudging in historical movies.  PRT Kamdesh was established in that valley because it was a choke point for Taliban weapons and soldiers.  It was also conveniently located for the counterinsurgency efforts popular at the time.  The movie alludes to the three-part strategy of separating the locals from the insurgents, linking the public to the government, and buying friendship through infrastructure projects.  Keating is used to show this, but Keating’s death occurred a couple of years before the battle.  He did die in a truck accident as shown in the movie.  There were other commanders between him and Yllescas.  Yllescas was mortally wounded by a command detonated IED similar to the movie.  It appears the Broward character was invented to represent blind obedience to the Rules of Engagement and as a foil for Romesha.  Lt. Bundermann was in command on Oct. 3, 2009 when more than 300 insurgents attacked with a variety of weapons including mortars and RPGs.  The mortar pit was taken out.  The enemy did penetrate the perimeter within 48 minutes and the Afghani National Army soldiers did not put up much of a fight before fleeing.  (Think ARVN when you think ANA.)  The movie neglects to mention the Latvian soldiers that also manned the outpost.  It also does not show the fact that the jihadists set fire to several buildings.  The defenders did fall back and it was at this point that Romesha led the counterattack depicted in the movie.  He actually did say “We’re taking this bitch back.”   His Medal of Honor performance is well-portrayed, except it leaves out his role in coordinating air support.  Carter’s arc is also accurate.  He did risk his life carrying ammunition and he saved Mace.  Romesha and Carter were the first two soldiers to survive to receive the Medal of Honor in the same battle in over fifty years.  The use of transfusions to keep Mace alive was vetted by Chris Cordova, who was on set for the scenes in the aid station.  The movie downplays the amount of time and effort by the helicopters, A-10s, B-1, and F-15s.  8 Air Force Distinguished Flying Crosses were awarded.  Portis did arrive with the Quick Reaction Force, but it was at nightfall.  Stoney Portis visited the set and admired the authenticity of the recreation.  The reconstruction must have been based on memories since the outpost was hastily destroyed two days later.

THE 100 BEST WAR MOVIES: #92. Kilo Two Bravo (2014)

 

                “Kilo Two Bravo” is a British film directed by Paul Katis.  It was his debut.  The  British title is “Kajaki: The True Story”.  It was filmed at Al Kaferin Dam in Jordan.  Most of the shoot was in temperatures above 100 degrees.  The movie tells the story of an incident involving a unit of British soldiers guarding the Kajaki Dam in Afghanistan in 2006.  The film made a splash in Great Britain partly due to some controversy, but was less than a blip in America.

                The movie opens with a culture clash between the British and the locals, but that will not become a theme.  The movie is not going to comment on the situation in Afghanistan.  However, the opening scene does establish the question:  “what the Hell are we doing here?”  Officially, the unit is stationed at an observation post called OP Normandy.  They are guarding a dam and keeping an eye out for suspicious Taliban activity.  The arrival of a replacement offers the opportunity to tour the camp and meet the lads.  The newbie is accepted with no problems.  The men get along fine.  There is no dysfunction.  This is not a Vietnam War movie.  There is a lot of soldier banter and camaraderie.  The area of operations is quiet, so they spend most of their time finding ways to waste time.  Like in actual war situations.  A good bit of that time-wasting is ragging each other.  Watch the movie with subtitles if you want the full effect of the banter because the accents are very thick.  At one point, a dog is seen with a missing leg due to stepping on one of the millions of mines left over from the Soviet occupation.  Foreshadowing.  The only action occurs when they call in a night air strike on suspicious activity.  Midway through the movie I was wondering if this is a reality show.  Then one day…  A sniper spots what looks like a Taliban check point.  Why not take a closer look?  Who wants something to do to relieve the boredom?  A trio head down a dry river bed and pretty soon everybody’s boredom is out the window when the sniper steps on a mine.  This random step sets in motion a chain of events that run the gamut of human emotions.  One theme of the movie is “if you think things can’t get any worse, stick around.”

               Not every soldier is a warrior and most days are boring.  Except for those rare days when the shit hits the fan and men are forced to man up.  This is the way the war really was like in Afghanistan in 2006.  This is the way soldiers behaved.  This is how they killed time.  This is how some died. 

                The cast is not stellar, but that is appropriate for a film that is about the men, not individuals.  The acting is fine.  The actors (there are no females in the movie) are an ensemble and no one is trying to scene steal or scenery chew.  There is some outstanding wounded acting.  Some of the best I’ve seen.  You really feel their pain.  The standouts are David Eliot as Mark Wright and Mark Stanley as Paul “Tug” Hartley.  Stanley plays the medic who uses his pack and some tension-filled leapfrogging to get to the wounded. He is spot on in portraying a man who is at first overwhelmed by a situation he never imagined, but snaps out of it and shows bravery he never imagined he had in him.  Hartley was awarded the George Cross for this bravery.  Eliot plays the team leader who is wounded by one of the mines and yet continues to take charge and keep morale up in spite of life-threatening injuries.  He also got the George Cross.

                The movie is well made considering the small budget.  The location shooting in Jordan lends itself to great scenery.  They managed to find a location that matched the actual site.  The dialogue is soldierly.  One of the wounded says “give us a fag, mate.”  (Note:  the Brits call cigarettes “fags”.)  There is plenty of slang, including “dick rot”.  This is the way they talked.  Your typical soldier, whether American or not, uses a lot of 4-letter words.  I counted 335 versions of the f-word!  And that was just the f-word.  This was how they talked.

  The dark humor associated with soldiers is a feature of the film.  The wounded are cracking jokes between cries for more morphine.  It’s not just the talk, the characters also walk the walk.  They act and react like Anglo-American soldiers would.  The war comes to a screeching halt as the unit does everything humanly possible to rescue their own.  (In that respect, it has a Vietnam vibe to it.)  The movie also is effective in depicting how complacency can lead to disaster. 

Another theme is the randomness of casualties.  Surprisingly, Katis is not interested in indicting the war or the one’s running it.  This is not “Black Hawk Down”.  The camera stays with the men, we do not cut back much to command decisions.  An investigation of the incident uncovered several systemic problems, but the movie only hints at them.  There’s another difference between the movie and a documentary.  It’s the appealing personalities of the men that draws the conclusion that these men’s bodies were not worth protecting a dam in Afghanistan.  Don’t get that confused with “they weren’t worth a damn”.  These guys were and the movie makes that clear.

                “Kilo Two Bravo” has its own niche in the modern war movie genre.  It deals with an incident that did not involve a single gunshot.  The enemy makes no appearance.  The explosions are not inflicted Hollywood style.  The suspense is not what is around the corner, it’s the next step.  All this is done with no music to push your buttons.  The buttons are pushed by the graphic wounds and the men’s reactions to them.  Not just the wounded men’s reactions, but their helpless, frustrated mates. When I first saw this movie, the Afghanistan war was still ongoing.  Most Americans and Brits had tuned the war out.  Now we are in the aftermath where most have forgotten the war.  This movie should be shown to the next generation to clue them in on what interventionist wars can be like for the average soldier.  I would say it should be mandatory viewing for politicians, but why bother.

ACTING:                   A

ACTION:                   N/A

ACCURACY:           A

PLOT:                        B

REALISM:                A

CINEMATOGRAPY:  nothing special

SCORE:                     None

BEST SCENE:  the whole scene after the first mine

BEST QUOTE:  Spud McMellon:  This country's full of shit left behind when armies fucked off, Russians, it was the mines. Ten million fucking mines. God knows what we're going to leave behind.

 GRADE  =  A

HISTORICAL ACCURACY:  It goes to show how little the media cared about the war in Afghanistan by 2006 that I had trouble finding information about the incident.  Here is what I found.  3^rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment was assigned to guard Kajaki Dam.  One of the outposts was called “Normandy”.  On Sept. 5, 2006, a sniper team was ordered to get a closer look at a possible Taliban check point.  Although there were maps of the mine fields, they were not given to the outpost.  Lance Corporal Stuart Hale took the trio into a dry river bed and stepped on one of the mines left behind by the Soviets.  His leg was blown off.  Hale later vouched for the accuracy of the movie.  Lance Corporal Mark Wright organized the relief force.  Unfortunately, Stu Pearson became the second victim in a manner similar to Hale’s.  A British Chinook Casevac helicopter arrived, but could not land near due to the mines.  The chopper was not equipped with winch equipment, which became a major controversy in the aftermath of the incident.  At this point, while trying to clear a path to the helicopter, Wright either stepped on another mine or the prop wash set one off.  Wright was wounded as depicted in the movie.  He had a bad arm wound and wounds to the neck, face, and chest.  In spite of this, Wright continued to supervise and keep morale up.  The medic, Paul “Tug” Hartley worked to keep the wounded alive.  The arrival of an American Black Hawk took several more hours, but it did have winches and the wounded were evacuated.  Wright died on the way to the hospital.

                The movie revived criticism of the British military’s role in the tragedy. It does allude to the communication problems due to faulty radios. The winch problem was later explained by the Ministry of Defense as tragic bad timing as the theater winches had been shipped back to Great Britain because of issues with functionality.  Although the movie does not attempt to assign blame, the Ministry of Defense withdrew cooperation with the production after seeing the script.  It also sent a letter to Para members to avoid discussing the film in public and to not wear uniforms to showings.