FWS Movie Review: LONE SURVIVOR (2013)

CukMet Haziran 19, 2022

Bring real stories of valor under fire has been a trend in humans since we could express language. Some deeds are drawn on the cave walls, some are remembered in tales written by Homer, and in today's media, the almighty "based on true events" war movie is how many of us witness the heroism of warfighters. In my lifetime, I've seen every major war movie and action film there is, and since 1986's Platoon, the genre of the war movie has changed with more realism and less glorification of the horrors of war. Both Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down have reshaped the genre, creating a template for the current realistic war film, and 2013's Lone Survivor is part of that seachange. The Navy SEALs have also been receiving more attention lately due to high-profile operations and the recent Act of Valor film. Directed by Peter Berg and starring Mark (don't call me Marky ) Wahlberg, this film is based on the events of late June in 2005 in Afghanistan, which was one of the largest loss of lives for the Naval Special Warfare community since WWII, and tells the story of a four-man SEAL recon team during Operation: RED WINGS. In a recent interview, former SEAL and author of the book that this movie was based (and fellow Texan), Marcus Luttrell said that film Lone Survivor: "it keeps the memory of my teammates alive forever." That is the most important element to remember while reading this review and the movie, it is a video testament to those men that were lost on that day of June 28, 2005. Both the SEAL recon team and the soldiers and sailors onboard the MH-47 on Turbine 33. I saw this film in Dallas with my wife on January 18th, 2014.

Operation: RED WINGS

First off, the name of the Operation is RED WINGS, not Red Wing. It was named by Marines of the 3/3 after the Hockey team. Operation: RED WING was a series of nuclear tests done in the south Pacific in the mid-1950's The goal of the operation was to stabilize the region for the upcoming September elections, moving the Afghan government towards republican-style democracy and prevent disruption by local anti-coalition forces; like the local Kunar Province militia leader, pro-Taliban, pro-AQ, Afghan named Ahmad Shah, operating in the Korengal Valley. He was one of the focuses of the operation headed up the 2/3 and 3/3 Marines. These Marines had already performed successful operations in the area prior to Operation: RED WINGS. Since the operation was being planned by Marines, they were originally going to use RECON Marine units for the surveillance duties of intel gathering and ID'ing Shah. With the spirit of everyone getting a piece of the operational pie, the SDVT-1 and SEAL Team 10 expressed interest in some of their assets being involved with the operation.

The first stage of the operation was for a four man SEAL recon from SDVT-1 where to get eyes-on intel gathering of Shah's group, ID Shah and their AO. During the second phase of RED WINGS, a joint Marine/SEAL unit would capture or kill Shah and his men. The operation never got to phase 2 out of the five stage operation. After the loss of Turbine 33 with 16 souls aboard, and three of the four SEALs, Operation: RED WINGS altered from the original goals. Operation RED WINGS II and WHALERS would follow to meet the goals and recover the bodies of the fallen. It was during the joint Maine/SEAL Team 10/160th SOAR operation of RED WINGS II, that Marcus Luttrel was recovered from a Pashtun village some 0.7 miles from the battlesite on Sawtalo Sar. The odd thing was that Ahmad Shah gained more popularity and draw from the operations than he had, he also video'ed the battle, and his men recovered the SEALs gear, weapons, and laptops with some sensitive information on it. Before he could make much of his new found fame, Shah was driven into Pakistan to regroup after being wounded during the August of 2005 Operation: WHALERS, and his group of "Mountain Tigers" were crushed. This shit stain was killed in a shoot-out with Pakistan Police in April of 2008. Even today, there is controversy over the number of hostiles. Figures range from as little as 8 to all the way to unrealistic 200. Most believe that the SEAL Recon team was engaged by about 20-35.

The GOOD

I'll be honest here, I did not think that Peter Berg had it in him to give Lone Survivor and the fallen heroes of Operation: RED WINGS their due credit, but he did. Lone Survivor is Peter Berg's most serious and best work, and he balances the chaos of the mountain battle with the SEALs...well...being SEALs and men in wartime attempting to live their lives. There are some amazing shots and he uses the New Mexico mountains with all their angelic light to full extent. Instead of a puff piece that is a thinly veiled recruiter film for the US military, Berg channels Black Hawk Down and Tears of the Sun in the best possible way, but also creates an interesting and original opening to Lone Survivor.

To give the audience a frame of reference for the endurance and mindset of a Navy SEAL in case all you've ever met is internet wanna-bes posing as a SEAL, he included actually footage of sailors at BUD/S, culled from different classes to setup what it takes to be a SEAL. Also helping the realism angle of the film is actually Navy SEAL advisers, including Marcus Luttrel (who is in the movie...watch for him!), and the commitment of the core four actors to get their parts the honor due. This might be Mark Wahlberg's best performance.

Most average film-goers will take away the heroic deeds, the bond of military brotherhood, and the chaos of the mountain battle, which are all reasons that 2/3 of Lone Survivor is a great "based on real events" war film. However, to me and others that have studied the events of June 28th, 2005, the real center and heart of the film is the debate between the four SEALs on what to do with the Afghan civilians that walked into their hide spots. After this scene, all hell breaks loose, and Berg expertly filming the combat scenes with realism and chaos needed. Once again, this is no puff piece. SEALs are engaged in heavy fire in a bad tactical position in bad terrain to fight a pitched gun-battle. The feeling and intensity of these combat scenes are captured without cheapening the gravity of the situation...

The BAD

While watching this movie with my wife, I firmly believed that there would be nothing for me to place in the bad or even ugly sections of the standard FWS movie review format...boy, was I wrong! Due to the last 1/3 of the film being so wrong to the spirit of the Lone Survivor project, I could only bring up a few bad elements in the excellent 2/3 of the picture...and most of these bad points are nitpicky at best. During the massive mountain battle, the actor portraying Matt Axelson pulls out his sidearm and engages hostiles at close range...the only thing is that the pistol is NOT the standard Navy SEAL Sig Sauer P226 9mm, but is instead the US Army's standard combat pistol, the Beretta M9. WTF?! How could the advisers on the film get that element wrong? Hell, even me, some REMF geekboy, knows that shit! I've studied Navy SEAL pictures for years, and only a few times have I seen a SEAL firing a Beretta...that was more in the 1990's, than today.

There is a scene depicting anti-coalition milita leader Ahmad Shah and one of his henchman, beheading an rumored American collaborator in a village over a log in front of his son. Why is this in the movie? Most audience already know that semi-Taliban and AQ terrorists are bad dudes...it wasn't needed especially since it doesn't seem to be true. There should have been a better way to introduce Ahmad Shah that didn't scream fake as a hooker's smile, and he could examined Black Hawk Down instead of playing to the cheap seats. Also, the quote about shitbag Ahmad Shah killing 20 Marines is completele false. At that point in the war in Afghanistan, there had only been a TOTAL of FIVE Marines lost. Another thing that bothered me was when talened actor Eric Bana's character gets the name of the operation wrong. He calls it "Red Wing" instead of "Red Wings".

The UGLY

!SPOILER FREE!

Simply put, the last 1/3 of Lone Survivor did not happen the way that it presented on-screen. That is according to the official accords of the events and the book. While the genre of "based on true events" films almost always takes licences with how the events transpired, they general attempt to say true to the major events and spirit of the events. That is not true here. The best way for me to describe the ending of Lone Survivor without the spoilers is by bring up Black Hawk Down. After the October 3-4, 1993 battle, CWO-3 Michael Durant was captured by the gunmen working for Aidid, he was held for 11 days, until released to the Red Cross. Now, if Black Hawk Down did what Lone Survivor did, they would HAVE twisted the ending, showing after the battle, DELTA operators Hoot and Sanderson tracking down Durant and rescuing him in a epic firefight. That is how wrong the ending of this film is. While I watching the film, I commented to my wife that none of this happened, and it completely broke my emotional involvement with the characters and the events on-screen. The shame is that the actual events of the four days that Marcus was in the village of Sabari-Minah are more compelling this tacked-on over-the-top revenge fantasy ending. One of my friends at work, Tucker, commented that the false end of the film could have been a requirement of the financial backers of the film.

!SPOILERS!

Do you want to know more? Than here it is...in all of its spoiler goodiness! According to the real events, after the bloody mountain battle, Luttrell is on his own, and searching for water desperately. He comes upon a waterfall and takes two drinks until an Afghan man yells at him, Luttrell pulls his sidearm and an grenade. That man is Gulab, a local shepherd from the small village of Sabari-Minah, shows him that he has no gun and is not Taliban. Over the course of four days, they move Luttell from houses, to stables, and even a cave to hide him from Shah's men, who knew that the SEAL was in the village of Sabari-Minah (I've seen it called Salar Ban as well). Gulab took great personal risk aiding the wounded SEAL, and later, his home burned down and a cousin was killed over Gulab's decision. Luttrell was lucky that he was found by people from the Shuryek Valley, who were more friendly towards the Coalition. The note that Luttrell wrote was given to the Marines at a base in the town of Nangalam by Shina, and this led to his rescue. During Lutrell's stay in Sabari-Minah, Shah's men did come into the village and threatened the village and Gulab, but unlike the movie, Luttrell was never almost beheaded on a log, nor did he kill an militaman with a knife during a pitched gun battle in the village. And there was no heroic battle where US forces with Apache gunship and an AC-130 drove the enemy from the village...all 100% fake.

Should You See Lone Survivor?

I think given what really happened on June 28th, 2005, along the bravery of the men involved with Operation: RED WINGS, and the excellent nature of 2/3 of the film, Lone Survivor is worth seeing. It will be one of those war movies that is talked about in the ranks of Black Hawk Down, and the majority of the film is worthy of that praise. Despite my misgivings about the ending, I will buy this on DVD, and watch most of it...just not the ending.

LINKS

Jeremy Jahns's Lone Survivor Review