On September 11, 2001, al Qaeda launched a terrorist attack on the United States. Both the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were hit by planes. The World Trade Center and the Pentagon were hit by planes. This incident caused nearly 3,000 casualties, shocking the world.
On October 7, 2001, President Bush Jr. began a military operation against the Taliban in Afghanistan, which opened the prelude to the war on terrorism.
The 12 warriors in the movie belong to the Operation Detachment Alpha (Operation Detachment Alpha), usually called the "US Army Special Forces Green Berets". As the advance team of this war on terrorism, in coordination with the local anti-Taliban armed forces, they captured the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in just three weeks and returned all their members. Military strategy researchers believe that it will take at least two years to achieve similar results.
This special forces unit is called ODA595 for short, and its combat method is mainly to infiltrate the Afghan mainland and provide coordinates for bombers. The Afghan local forces are led by General Dostum (became the Vice President of Afghanistan in 2014). The main task is to guide the special forces units to find Taliban forces and provide security for the special forces units.
The film was released in the U.S. on January 19, 2018, and as of March 28, it had earned more than $45 million in box office in China. The director Nicolai Fuglsig is a newcomer, and the actor Hemsworth is no stranger to the Chinese, and he is affectionately called "Brother Hammer". The film can be said to be an American theme in the standard sense. There is no room for interpretation in the ideological sense, but it does have a bright spot in the way the theme is handled.
(1) In the film, the special operations detachment and local armed forces mostly ride horses. Cavalry plus bombers vs. battle tanks and AKs present a rather weird landscape in the modern battlefield. This is mainly due to the harsh natural environment in Afghanistan, with many deserts and mountains, and poor infrastructure under the perennial war. Moreover, Afghanistan has kept a large number of light and heavy weapons in the perennial war. In addition to the conventional light weapons in the film, the Taliban armed forces also have a certain number of pickups, tacos and rocket launchers. Modern weapons are in the same frame as the war horses, which has a sense of dislocation.
(2) Transnational wars need legitimacy reasons the most. Three reasons are mainly given in the movie.
First, the Taliban will be dehumanized. The film portrays the barbaric, cruel and evil image of the Taliban armed leader: children over 8 years of age are prohibited from receiving education, violators are sentenced to capital punishment, and the family of General Dostum is also slaughtered by the Taliban. The United States, as a savior, was welcomed by the local people.
Second, the Taliban support Al Qaeda’s attack on the United States, and the remains of the World Trade Towers have become a symbol of national enmity. When Brother Hammer accepted the mission, the officer handed the fragments of the World Trade Center Twin Towers to Brother Hammer, and Brother Hammer buried the fragments on the land of Afghanistan. This was a ritual of successful revenge. In Chinese, it means "Those who commit crimes against the U.S. will be punishable even though they are far away!"
Third, the U.S. squad and Afghanistan’s local anti-Taliban militants cooperated with each other and established a fraternal relationship during their combat careers. Whether it is Hammer and the general, or the team members and the children, both sides will not hesitate to rescue each other by risking the danger and bring the U.S. squad. The justice of the military operations was fully revealed.
(3) Adapting based on real events seems to be a big advertised theme in the main theme movie. For the audience, reality is often more powerful than fictional destruction. The film has a special description at the beginning of the film, the film is adapted from real events, and the end of the film is supplemented in the form of subtitles and pictures. In recent years, "13 Hours of Crisis" and "American Sniper" have adopted similar methods.
However, the beautiful marching silhouettes, spectacular blasting scenes and sensational soundtracks in the movie remind us that this may not have much connection with reality. The film once again clearly shows us that the "main theme" refers to the spiritual core of the film, but a good theme film should be a commercial film with a beautiful form.
(4) The American theme is good at using symbols . For example, they always juxtapose the Stars and Stripes with airplanes, guns, military camps, and soldiers. It is a national existence, and is given a symbolic sacred meaning. The photos of their wives and children become a symbol of human nature, and the ultimate wish of the soldiers is to return. family. This dual expression of the soldiers' intentions as large as for the country and as small as for their wives and daughters strengthens the legitimacy of the war.
(5) General Dostum's analysis of the situation in Afghanistan in the film is very insightful.
This is Afghanistan, the cemetery of many empires. Today is a friend, and tomorrow is an enemy. The United States will become an ethnic group here. If you leave, it will be a coward, and if you stay, it will be our enemy.
On the whole, the movie is quite satisfactory and has a high degree of completion. The scene scheduling of the horse battle tank is quite skillful, and the desert and mountain landscape also give the movie the western film temperament.
The first half of the film has a slow pace, and the identity of the characters is not clear enough, and the personality characteristics of the 12 characters are also relatively vague. The film simplifies the Taliban armed forces as an evil villain, and also makes the film lose a valuable opportunity to reflect the author's reflection.
In short, the film is hard to be called a classic, and the taste is still qualified under the adjustment of the film shortage.
May the world be peaceful!
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