Review: Lone Survivor Movie

Today, I watched the Lone Survivor with two friends and was once again reminded of the brevity of life, the importance of principle and the value of friendship. I found the movie to be a masterful combination of plot, emphasis and character development. It is tough to capture the breadth emotions present in Marcus Luttrell’s detailed book in two hours, but the movie does capture the heartbreak, the passion, the sacrifice of modern warfare — all juxtaposed with the rapid transition from the safety, comfort and contentedness of modern forward bases. Further contrast comes from American optimism (“Good things happen to good people, right?”) with middle-eastern determinism, but nothing hits you harder than the fierce determination of the seals contrasted with our comfortable armchair warrior lives.

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First, the film captures war in a modern, gritty and raw manner we’ve come to expect since saving private Ryan. You feel the disorientation as the seals egress down the escarpment, slamming into trees and trying to keep their bearings. There is also the brief character development, followed by painful and heroic actions that saving private Ryan gave us. In the first act, we are introduced to each of the four main characters who left their homes and loved ones to serve their country. We see not just the pictures of wives, girlfriends, children etc., but we are given an emotional anchor to each to give us a sense of what fuels and motivates them. This highlights the emotions we feel in the subsequent (and inevitable) loss.

Given my background in the Pentagon, the movie did a masterful job of pushing questions at the audience that arise from the intersection of policy, necessity and passion. These issues were treated in a way that did not oversimplify them, but left a lot up to the audience. I’m constantly amazed with how complicated we make simple things: in war, there are good and bad guys — not a complex spectrum of morality. This is also true at the macro scale. Foreign policy is not abstract. Each nation, each person, each village, seeks its own self interest. Americans want to win. These guys, as pathological as they were with their bodies and pursuits, wanted deeply to win. There is great honor in that. They wanted to defend their brothers, they wanted to live and die with honor, they wanted to live to die another day. Listen to the key (and terse) monologue of the movie:

“If I die I want you to make sure that Cindy knows how much I love her, and that I died with my brothers with a full … heart.”

What a code of honor: to love those around you and sacrifice for them. To die with a full heart. What could be more simple?

I’m also amazed with how simple the public makes complex things. In other reviews, I’ve read many criticisms of the key decision of the movie: to let the shepherds live. One reviewer even remarked that they should have tied stones to their captives’ feet. In another famous review, much has been made of the polarizing nature of who is good and bad. There is no doubt, the decisions that are made in combat can be extremely complex with far reaching consequences. There is also the complex, multi-scale and multi-dimensional nature of warfare. Once you start a forced engagement, you can’t stop without dealing with the second and third order effects, and we leave these guys to get whipped around as logistics and policy (rules of engagement) fluctuate.

For a second, I found it amazing how small a crowd these folks are. There are millions of Americans, with millions in the defense business, and there are just 4 of them out there on a mountain, bumping into a shepherd. For me, I felt that I was there with them wanting to throw the labor of my hands their way. The technologist in me kept leaping out: give them some communications! Give them some overhead armed surveillance! We have hundreds of reapers and we didn’t have one there to provide a communications relay for these guys? How about a repeater on a U-2 at 50,000 ft? Can’t we give them a model rocket that beacons out past any horizon limitation the MGRS (location) and a mayday code? As these thoughts surged through me, I realized that I am in this fight. That I want to win too. That I want to fight, in any way I can. Not for the abstract amalgam of principles that has us in a protracted war in Afghanistan, but because it is in my nature to sacrifice, to fight and to win — for my faith, my self, my family, my state, my country and my friends.

In a recent interview on CNN, Jake Tapper used this movie to force an unwelcome question on us:

Tapper: It seemed senseless. I don’t mean to disrespect in any way, but it seemed senseless — all of these wonderful people who were killed for an op that went wrong.

Luttrell: We spend our whole lives training to defend this country and then we were sent over there by this country — so you’re telling me because we were over there doing what we were told by our country that it was senseless? And my guys — what? They died for nothing?

Tapper: No.

Luttrell: That’s what you said. So, let me just say, it went bad for us over there, but that was our job. That’s what we did. We didn’t complain about it.

What Markus Luttrell is saying is: we signed up for this. This is not about the philosophy. This is about the fight in us and the duty he holds sacred.

I was reminded today of how prescient Lincoln’s Gettysburg address was on this very topic. Men do die in vain, if we do not do our part to give their sacrifice meaning.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

This is a movie at its best. Not just a well scripted and executed scenes, but a mirror into a world far away, but one that forces you to look at yourself and ask what you are made of, why you are here, and what you are willing to do about it. My next Murph will certainly have a little more heart in it.


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3 responses to “Review: Lone Survivor Movie”

  1. Laurel Avatar
    Laurel

    Wow, what a thorough, well thought out review. Thanks for the insight.

  2. Jim Muccio Avatar

    Tim…nice review. I definitely look forward to seeing the movie. Recently I’ve in a debate about another group of heroes that seem to have befallen the same lame regard as Jake Tapper seemed to have for these war-fighters…that they died in vain. Also, I always tell my daughter, it doesn’t matter if you say “No Offense” before you disrespect someone, it’s still disrespect. So the issue was Beyonce’s use of the 6 second sound clip taken from the recordings of the Challenger disaster which is now over 25 years ago. Those explorers were not killed tragically in a car accident on the way to the supermarket. They were engaged in one of the most hazardous occupations ever devised by man. They trained for years and the risks were well known…”Riding the Rocket” is what astronauts call it among themselves. Their sacrifice belongs to us…as tragic as their deaths may seem they had a purpose…their sacrifice was as public and human and for all mankind as Neil Armstrong’s successful first step onto the surface of the moon. Hiding it away, because people died, reduces the value of their sacrifice. We should always remember our hero’s for the way they lived…but it’s not the way they lived that’s as important as the way they died…making the ultimate sacrifice. CS Lewis tells us in “The Abolition of Man” that our selfish selves cannot make this sacrifice. Our instinct is to live. But to walk into combat, to place oneself in great peril, for a greater good, is something that defines us as distinctly human. It is even more important to remember the deaths of those who gave their lives in sacrifice then those who may have died as tragically, but perhaps in pursuit of no higher calling. For those we will want to remember them as they lived and forget the tragic circumstances of their deaths. If that wasn’t clear…Beyonce’s use of the Challenger audio, as insensitive as many have accused her of being, actually stands in great tribute to the Challenger Crew. And I applaud her bravery and artistic us of that clip…that clip belongs to us, hence she has given that song to us as well.

  3. tim Avatar
    tim

    A friend asked an excellent question about this movie: Is this still worth it — even with the “R” rating. I loved this question, because it speaks to values and being judicious of what we put into our bodies and minds. Here is a modified answer I gave him:

    Personally, I feel the course language was justified and contextual. The violence was pretty much equivalent to Saving Private Ryan — real gunfights, real death, real disorientation and suffering.

    But that doesn’t get close to answering the question: Do we need to see such things? Should we see such things? I think the answer for our current culture is a big “no”. Why do we take the 1{aaa01f1184b23bc5204459599a780c2efd1a71f819cd2b338cab4b7a2f8e97d4} of pathological experience and share it with the masses? Our current cultural experiment has us doing this routinely. Taking normal people and using their free time to watch celebrities sing, cavort or, now, just live their lives, which are anything but normal. Obviously, it is terrible what these seals went through, why should we watch a solider find out he is missing his fingers? Do we need this to think about why we are war?

    I don’t think so. This voyeuristic, sensationalist obsession we have as a nation is decidedly unhealthy. I hate to say this — because I feel elitist saying it — but I don’t think the all of the public should see this movie. This is not entertainment. There is no fun here — no winners. But there was a message for me, because this is what happens in my business. The technology I’ve devoted my career to analyzing and developing: it does these things.

    That said. I liked this movie. It made me want to be a better man. It reminded me of who God made me to be, of what I am. I also enjoyed doing something with two other guys. I miss friendship — common activity. Traveling, running around, empties my soul — Chrissy is a great a dear friend, the kids are awesome, but I miss time with guys.

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