"30 minutes after this picture was
taken, this man was murdered"
The principle subject of this documentary is a story of a British military unit that goes to war in Afghanistan for the first time in their lives. They are lead by a Lieutenant who has had prior experience, yet, as their new commander, everyone is a little worried they won't work in unison that well. Sure enough, as they go out to raid a Taliban weapons bunker, they find nothing and end up walking into a trap. They have been ambushed. In this ambush, they loose a British soldier. The Lieutenant in the documentary rights to the mother a detailed letter in order to shed light on what happened that day. In the end, he becomes a teacher of war. He attempts to dissuade people as he speaks about the British soldier that was murdered on that weapons bunker raid. "30 minutes after this picture was taken, this man was murdered by the Taliban."
The principle purpose of this documentary is to display the horrors of war. It takes a certain type of character to enter a battle zone where you put your life in jeopardy. I believe that in the end, if someone is still convinced to go to war even after all of the dissuasion, then they are mentally fit to go to battle and serve their country.
I believe the intended audience for this documentary is anyone that seems mature enough to handle the content. It is uncensored footage that uses vulgar language and themes of death and violence are present. It is the kind of documentary where they should put "viewer discretion is advised".
The documentary aims to be as realistic as possible. Staying true to the story is an absolute necessity in order to have any justice for the men who served in Afghanistan. The documentary consist of interviews from the parents of the fallen soldier and interviews of the soldiers who were ambushed on that day. Additionally, the documentary introduced primarily how the war on terror is the first war to be largely documented as it is being recorded by everyone. Soldiers are bringing their own cameras to the front lines. And that is what the lieutenant of this documentary did. His uncensored real life footage and un edited was used as the B-Roll for this documentary. Interviews from the people who were there, along with legitimate footage, the documentary was successful in staying true to the story... as far as I know.
K.I.A. British Soldier
Dead Taliban
Because the footage is not professional, there is no judging on what should have been filmed and what should not have. The Lieutenant probably had the camera strapped onto his helmet and let it record his whole day every day. Editors cut out a lot in order to condense time but it most likely kept the key moments that were meant to convey the message that war brings. That is, war brings death. In relation to what should have been filmed or not, I believe that first person perspective on a situation is fair to the aim of this documentary. Additionally, The camera, although uncensored, refrained from filming directly at the dead British soldier. This was most likely unintentional yet it was necessary to show respect for the fallen comrade. However, we later see how the British soldiers yearned for revenge and end up killing a Taliban. They are more than willing to film the Taliban's dead body in order to send a message. The British can be a menacing and a threat to the war on terror. The pose a threat to the Taliban because they are capable of killing their men, which could lead one step closer to ending the insurgency.
As mentioned, the documentary is merely interviews with the soldiers and an amateur footage of the event itself. The sound you hear comes from the sound of the footage for whatever was recorded.
There really is no intended effect of the film that has been used in this documentary. Everything is meant to be interpreted literally. Therefore, there is no need for complex and fancy camera work. As a result, the plain old amateur footage is sufficient along with basic stationary interview shots.
The documentary does NOT record seemingly spontaneous dialogue or interaction between two or more participants engaged in conversation action.
The Lieutenant
As I mentioned, the documentary accounts for the first person. This is essential as the producers for this film were trying to get a point across. There is a question, if you won't believe the people who were in war, then who can you believe? That is why this documentary is important as it reaches the front line (in a sense) of the soldiers and their experiences and exploits the realities of harsh combat. I don't believe the intent of the directors of this film was to dissuade war completely. This is in part because I think it was the Lieutenant who said that war may be a bad thing but it is necessary. He states that war can either have good results or bad results. Its all circumstantial. Overall, I believe that the purpose for this documentary was to capture one aspect of war, as this is only a fraction of what could be even harsher realities. He merely wants to show what are the results of war, and relies on the audience to make their own feelings about it. However, with the interviews and B-Roll, the director helps to "guide" the audience to a certain opinion.
The Visual used to depict
their situation against the Taliban
Although it is not a matter of getting a point across, the documentary does incorporate a visual to describe the situation in which the British soldiers are in. When the documentary went into details about the raid, a digital recreation of the location was made. The purpose for this was to help the audience facilitate the understanding of the situation. Although the narrator could have simply said the soldiers were boxed in, the visual was more detailed and showed how the Taliban could flank the British and come around and box them in. It was pretty important in the end to understanding what the soldiers went through.
The film is very linear in story. I believe this documentary is very effective in communicating its message. As I have mentioned, in order for this documentary to be successful, the first person accounting was necessary in creating an image.
No comments:
Post a Comment