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seriousficThis is a documentary about a platoon of soldiers in Afghanistan who establish an outpost pretty much in the middle of enemy territory. As the soldiers interviewed say, in a given month they fire 70% of all the rounds fired, and the Army doesn't really know what to do with them when they get back since there haven't been any soldiers in that sustained combat since Vietnam.
Overall, it's a very well-done documentary that focuses on what it's like to spend 15 months taking fire just about every single day, and captures some pretty astonishing moments in the process. If you're at all interested in the subject matter, I'd recommend it. My one real criticism is that by focusing on just "a day in the life" type affairs, the documentary misses an opportunity to be really informative. There are lots of times where I thought a little context would help, since the soldiers mention various things that you wish the documentary would take the time to delve into.
Like, one of the subplots is the CO's weekly meetings with the village elders, and trying to get them to cooperate with the Americans when the Taliban will shoot them for giving a soldier the time of day. At one point, one of the elders asks what happened to a man the soldiers detained and the CO says "hey, I saw him in a video cutting someone's head off, he's not coming back." You're like, whoa, that sounds interesting, can we go into that a little? But no, the documentary lets it lie. At another point, they mention in passing that the Taliban are paying the locals five bucks a head to shoot at Coalition forces, which obviously creates tension when the Americans shoot back. Again, that seems such an obvious tangent to go on that you wish there were a narrator, or an expert they could interview, or that they would even just ask the soldiers involved what's going on, why they act this way instead of that, etc.
So I don't fault the documentary for having the focus that it does, but I do wish it had been a little more ambitious in its scope.
Overall, it's a very well-done documentary that focuses on what it's like to spend 15 months taking fire just about every single day, and captures some pretty astonishing moments in the process. If you're at all interested in the subject matter, I'd recommend it. My one real criticism is that by focusing on just "a day in the life" type affairs, the documentary misses an opportunity to be really informative. There are lots of times where I thought a little context would help, since the soldiers mention various things that you wish the documentary would take the time to delve into.
Like, one of the subplots is the CO's weekly meetings with the village elders, and trying to get them to cooperate with the Americans when the Taliban will shoot them for giving a soldier the time of day. At one point, one of the elders asks what happened to a man the soldiers detained and the CO says "hey, I saw him in a video cutting someone's head off, he's not coming back." You're like, whoa, that sounds interesting, can we go into that a little? But no, the documentary lets it lie. At another point, they mention in passing that the Taliban are paying the locals five bucks a head to shoot at Coalition forces, which obviously creates tension when the Americans shoot back. Again, that seems such an obvious tangent to go on that you wish there were a narrator, or an expert they could interview, or that they would even just ask the soldiers involved what's going on, why they act this way instead of that, etc.
So I don't fault the documentary for having the focus that it does, but I do wish it had been a little more ambitious in its scope.
