Run-of-the-Mill Representation of American Warfare in Afghanistan

Rating: 5/10 (5 March 2014)

I wish I could get enthusiastic about LONE SURVIVOR. Peter Berg's direction is both terse and non-partisan, portraying the sheer hell of Americans trying to fight in an alien territory against an elusive opponent. Led by Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg), a small group of troops are left alone to fight for their lives in an atmosphere fraught with danger; this is memorably evoked through fast cuts and the use hand-held cameras emphasizing the peril that they are faced with. The actors are excellent, especially Wahlberg and Taylor Kitsch as his fellow-soldier Taylor Kitsch. On the other hand LONE SURVIVOR is inscribed within wearyingly familiar binarist terms; the Taleban are represented as both savage and ruthless, as opposed to the more humanist American forces. The fact that the Americans are invading another territory is conveniently overlooked. The motive for the mission - to kill a notorious Taleban leader Ahmad Shah - is justifiable (from an American perspective), but experience might demonstrate that a so-called "terrorist" from an American perspective might fulfill a quite different role in other contexts. Nor does the film actively question why the American forces are in Afghanistan; what their motives are; and what the final outcome of their occupation might be. The focus instead is on the bravery of a few men rather than looking at the broader political implications of their action. Director Berg opts for a thick-ear approach, with the script regularly peppered with curses and/or gunshots in familiar war-film mode.