Posto de Combate

I thought this would be a B movie, but it is actually really good. It is truly intense, and brings you to the outpost where you feel threatened and desperate. I really enjoyed it.

The Outpost, directed by Rod Lurie and based on the book by Jack Tapper is a brilliant film about survival and strength faced upon certain death.

The movie is based on the true story of the battle of Kamdesh, one of the hardest battles fought in the war in Afghanistan.

The movie centers around the soldiers who fought during the battle, who had to watch their friends die, and lived to tell this story in memoriam of those they lost.

The movie is brilliant because of 2 elements in my mind: the first one being telling a good story about survival, and courage the soldiers showed during battle that saved their friends. In general I love war movies that tell a story of courage and that in the end we get to know the true figures of the story. The movie experts in showing the audience who those men were and why they are important to remember.

The second thing that makes this movie brilliant is the filming. For example, one of the first scenes of the movie is a long shot that indicates the horrible strategic location of the Outpost, how the characters are completely exposed to enemy fire. Moreover, the over the shoulder filming is great as well, the camera movements following the characters throughout the film gives a more realistic point of view and image.

In conclusion, The movie is based on real events and in my opinion it does a great job giving full respect to the story and its events surrounding it.

The cast was fantastic and really compelling, the cinematography was very well done. Overall a good movie that I recommend for those who are into it.

I thought this would be a bit of a B-movie when I sat to watch it; partly because there aren't many 'big' films coming out at the moment, but also because it does feel like it is dressed up as a rather generic war movie. This feeling is a little justified perhaps, but mostly The Outpost does perform, in particular in the second half where the famous 4-day battle to hold the camp is played out. There isn't a lot of character-building, or strong dialogue scenes, but to be fair the functional talk and focus on structure does fit with the military nature of the story, and actually moments where we do get little details added to the characters mostly feel a bit clunky and unnatural within the bigger film.

War is hell is clearly spelt out throughout the film, but in particular the second half sees a barrage on the camp and the viewer is effectively put in the middle of it. It is well-played so it is never 'exciting' like a war movie; heroics are not overdone but are just 'done' in a matter of fact way; deaths are not flamboyant or choreographed but rather they just happen, often with brutal suddenness. It all has an intensity that is befitting those that went through the real thing, and every aspect is targeted well to play to the chaos. The camerawork stands out during this. There are a few moments in the film where the camerawork is interesting but actually distracts from the moment because of how the camera moves (the bridge scene for example), but in the second half the mobility of the camera combined with the longer shots do work well to put the viewer in the midst of it all. The cast may not have a lot to work with in the detail, but they are wholly convincing in terms of their situation - you believe their lives are on the line and that they are under intense unending pressure.

It is not a flawless film by any means, but it does what it wants to do and does it well - particularly delivering in that intense second half.

PREMISE - The Outpost depicts the battle of Outpost Keating, known as the Battle of Kamdesh, which took place on October 3rd 2009, close to the border with Pakistan in Afghanistan. The Outpost itself was located on the bend of a river in a valley, completely overlooked by high mountains on all sides. It was simply put, a nigntmare to defend and a prime target to over run. So it would be that 300 Taliban fighters would attempt to do just that over two fateful days that October. In addition to the harsh terrain the location had other issues. Helicopter re-supply was extremely challenging and dangerous and could only be conducted at night (A previous re-supply attempted killed 12 people, not depicted in the movie) meaning only night landings when there was no moon were possible. Due the nature of the base being located effectively in the bottom of a funnel, in-direct fire support from artillary was impossible and the nearest close air-support was thirty minutes away. Into this nightmare scenario 53 American Soldiers were expected to defend the worst position possible, so the stage was set for a modern day Zulu and one of the bloodiest close quarter conflicts of the war in Afghanistan.

THE CAST - Casting here is impressive and suspiciously full of the children and grandchildren of famous actors and directors. (Jagger, Gibson, Eastwood, Attenborough) Knowing full well that it is difficult to often tell men apart in uniform during depictions of conflict on screen, we have an interesting range of faces, the most easy to spot of which is SCOTT EASTWOOD, proving to be every bit his Father's son as Staff Sgt Clint Romesha, he and CALEB LANDRY JONES both give stand out performances but the rest of the cast are solid too, special mentions to: CORY HARDRICT, TAYLOR JOHN SMITH. and the ever dependable JACK KESY. Senior Officers are played by MILO GIBSON (Whose making a good name for himself despite the challenge of having to fill size 22 shoes) and ORLANDO BLOOM, who appears to have come full circle from playing PFC Blackburn in Blackhawk Down to playing Captain Keating here, whom the camp was ultimately named after. A number of younger British actors do incredibly well and even Producer JOHNATHAN YUNGER gets in on the action!

PRODUCTION - The film was predominantly shot in Bulgaria, as you would expect for a film being produced by Millenium Pictures, but the set up for the camp is convincing and adequately conveys the issues facing the defenders, although the depiction of the terrain is slightly different. The first half of the film tells the story of the various officers who were stationed at the camp before leaving the final third of the film to depict the battle. It is here where ex-soldier turned director ROD LURIE and DOP LORENZO SENATORE do a superb job of giving us a balls to the wall depiction of the final assault and place you firmly in the middle of it, making me regret I could not have experienced the sequence on the big screen. Several long takes (all the rage these days) give a very realistic depiction of following one character in the battle, then another. They also employ a clever techique of depicting the deaths of the real personnel involved, seen primarily form the third person, which felt like a sensible and sensitive approach to the issue in question. One of the most dependable sargeants is wounded early on during the firefight which has an impact on the battle morale of the soldiers whom find themselves fighting for their lives minute by minute. Enough screen time is given to depicting the local political problems facing the American officers, who did their best under extremely challenging circumstances to placate locals.

OVERALL - This film is one of the best depictions of close quarter fighting since Blackhawk Down and is extremely well handled. Some of the earlier dialogue between the soldiers lets the film down a little bit. Yes, we know soldiers do talk like this from time to time but some of lines are cringeworthy to say the least and I am sure this dialogue could have easily been improved upon, but minor gripes aside the film is a pretty gripping depiction of a stupid military blunder which cost the lives of several young men, completely unnecessarily. It does seem a shame however, that the release of this film, may have torpedoed a second film on the subject (RED PLATOON) based on the book written by Medal of Honour winner Clinton Romesha (Played by Scott Eastwood) - Eastwood was not able to speak to Romesha when researching the role he depicted due to this conflict which feels a real shame. So it is possible, we might see a second film depicting the battle. Bring it on.

11 year army veteran. This rates in my top 3 films for realism and truth to the combat experience. Uniforms to terminology, they nailed it. Thank you for making this film and putting in the research.