Lone Survivor (2013)
Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on January 8, 2014 @ tonymacklin.net.
In an age in which everyone who wears a uniform is called a "hero," it may be jarring to see a movie that is based on an actual heroic event. Lone Survivor is such a movie.
Of course, the difficulty in telling a "true" story is to tell it truly.
Lone Survivor puts a human face on heroism. Also a brave face. A sentimental face. And a senseless face.
Lone Survivor is about patriotism, but fortunately it's not propaganda.
Director/writer Peter Berg is adept at creating effective action sequences and capturing the spirit of camaraderie. He is less skilled at subtlety. And - as in his movie Friday Night Lights (2004) - Berg simplifies character and lets his commercial instincts invade.
Lone Survivor - based on the book that Marcus Luttrell wrote with Patrick Robinson - is the torturous tale of Luttrell's own experiences on a failed mission "Operation Red Wings." In 2005 four Navy SEALS went into Afghanistan to assassinate Taliban leader Ahmad Shah.
But because of faulty equipment, lack of air support, accidental obstacles, and intense enemy fire, the mission came to a fateful, dire conclusion. The four SEALS were isolated and had to try to fight their way out of a withering deadly assault.
There is no music in war. But there sure is in Lone Survivor. Berg's film could be subtitled, "The String Section Goes to War."
The music is credited to Explosions in the Sky and Steve Jablonski. Jablonski did the music for the Transformers series and also Desperate Housewives. At time the music treats the team as Desperate SEALS.
There's music as the SEALS run, music as they awaken, music as they train, music throbs as a SEAL talks on the phone, music as they release captives, music as a captive runs. Music, music, music.
When the shooting starts, the music halts. For a while.
As Mikey runs up rocks shooting, ah, strings again. String music accompanies a shooting gallery.
The cast is forceful, but their roles are skimpy. Mark Wahlberg is solid as Marcus. Ben Foster, Taylor Kitsch, and Emile Hirsh ably make up the rest of the quartet.
Berg can't help himself from veering into commerciality, as he did in Friday Night Lights. It looks as though he put out a casting call to find the cutest Afghan boy in the world, to play a lad who helps Marcus.
Berg uses multiple shots of the small boy to inject sentimentality. The boy even hugs Marcus. The boy doesn't have to be Hallmark cute. In fact, he shouldn't be. But he is.
The film's most human moments come at the conclusion in a series of personal photographs of the actual victims. They are accompanied by a cover version by Peter Gabriel of David Bowie's and Brian Eco's classic song "Heroes."
It's an apt irony that Berg didn't get Bowie.
For better or worse, Lone Survivor is Peter Berg's cover version of "Operation Red Wings."
