FILM REVIEW Lone Survivor

A WALK IN THE WOODS?‘Lone Survivor’ stars, from left, Taylor Kitsch, Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster and Emile Hirsch.

Capturing combat up close


Cinema
Daniel Carey

THE Looming Tower’, Lawrence Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book subtitled ‘Al-Qaeda’s Road To 9/11’, reveals that just four animals in Kabul Zoo survived Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
Two were wolves. One was a bear who had his nose cut off by a Taliban fighter, reputedly because the animal’s ‘beard’ was not long enough. And the other was a lion who was blinded by a grenade thrown by one Taliban member after another – ‘intoxicated by events and his own power’ – leaped into the den and cried out ‘I am the lion now!’ before being killed by the king of beasts.
Afghan animals play a fleeting but significant role in ‘Lone Survivor’, a film written and directed by Peter Berg inspired by a book of the same giveaway name. Three shepherds – one old, two young – are in the mountains with their herd when they disturb four US Navy SEALs who are planning to capture or kill a leading Taliban figure. Their mission blown, the Americans retreat, and – as the title of the movie suggests – things do not end well for them.
Based on a true story, the picture opens with real-life footage of SEALs. Then we see the three-day build-up to the plan, which will remind many of ‘Black Hawk Down’, the incident which ended the US intervention in Somalia and formed the basis of Ridley Scott’s 2001 movie.
In truth, the first act is forgettable enough. There are some online chats with sweethearts, plenty of bonding with colleagues, lots of military speak, and the laying out of an objective that involves ‘a lot of moving parts’. But things get more interesting out in the field.
The four men given the task – Marcus (Mark Wahlberg), Danny (Emile Hirsch), Mike (Taylor Kitsch) and Matt (Ben Foster) – find themselves facing ‘a lot more’ than the ‘ten guys’ they expected to constitute the opposition. There are frequent communication problems. When the shepherds and animals show up, one man suggests the operation may be ‘cursed’, a sign that talk of supernatural forces is not confined to Mayo football.
A debate follows about what to do next. The possibility of killing the trio is floated, but obviously the rules of engagement don’t allow them to kill unarmed prisoners. They cut them loose and head for the hills. As in John Sturges’s 1976 picture ‘The Eagle Has Landed’, the action starts once their cover is blown, and the odds are clearly overwhelming.
‘Lone Survivor’ is as its best when the gunfire begins. The raw intensity of combat – visceral, close quarters stuff – is well captured on camera. Wounds are examined and packed with dirt. Bullets are dug out of skin. It’s not for the faint-hearted. The quartet fall off a cliff and roll down a mountain, pursued by dozens (perhaps more) of Taliban fighters.
Film-goers of a certain age may be reminded of ‘Zulu’, the 1964 recreation of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift starring Michael Caine. There’s no debate about the morality of the invasion, and the focus is primarily on the heroism of a heavily outnumbered band of brothers. But amid the jingoism, there’s an interesting third act, when the eponymous lone survivor is taken in by an Afghan family whose village is then raided by the Taliban.
Notwithstanding some joshing between comrades early on, the only really funny moment of Berg’s ho-hum script comes in a lost-in-translation incident, when the remaining American asks a young Afghan boy for a knife – and is offered a duck.
This is not a must-see, but it’s a story worth telling.

Rating 6 out of 10