Makes the soldiers voice heard

Rating: 9/10 (18 January 2016)

Too often in life the truth of a story is buried by political maneuvering that goes unchallenged by the media and we (the public) receive a story that may be very different from reality.
One could talk a lot about the different aspects of this film: the action, the politics, military tactics, etc...but in the end what I thought was most compelling was that the individual soldiers voices were heard (I'm using the term "soldier" as a catchall here...there were former Marines and Navy personnel involved as well the former Army guys). It's a rare thing for the guy on the ground to have this much weight given to his voice in order to tell what he saw, so I applaud the directors for giving that to them.
The story is told through their eyes. It is the story of what they actually experienced on the ground. Gone is the smoke and mirrors of politics that tries to cast everything in a favorable light that makes future election cycles look good. This is the raw experience straight from the mouths of the men who fought it.
The film doesn't seek to explain the "why", it only relays the "what". It's up the viewer to go forth and sort it all out. Why wasn't help sent? Why was the security situation so weak to begin with? Why was it reported so differently in America as opposed to how it actually happened?
The film did an admirable job of building up the tension even though we all know what happened. The tension was felt as those calls for help came, and it crescendos as the only 5 or 6 men in the world who can help are forced to sit and do nothing.
Any American fighting man who watches this will cringe...because these calls actually happened...and real Americans actually died...and if you've served this country in any capacity you will be angry sitting there and not being able to do anything.
The film does a very good job of telling not only the primary story of the attacks through the eyes of those who fought it, but does a remarkable job of delivering the personalities of those men, and the struggles their families faced as well. That's not an easy job.
I'm not very familiar with John Krasinski, I only know him from watching a season or two of The Office. However, he proves in this film that he can act. He did a great job.
Perhaps the only distracting thing was that they cast two actors from the TV series The Office to be in the film. The whole time I was thinking "isn't that other dude from The Office too?" So both Pam's husband, and his long time romantic rival from The Office are co-starring in this movie. It's a little strange to see Jim and Roy from The Office on a rooftop together...but not so strange that it takes away from the film. At no time did I expect Michael Scott to walk on screen.
In the end I guess the film has something for everyone. The guys will love the action, the girls get to cry, and everyone comes out with a better idea of what actually happened in Benghazi.
Go see it.