Netflix Pick – Kilo Two Bravo
Picking up in the same vein as HBO’s sensational Generation Kill this week’s Netflix Pick is Kilo Two Bravo. Originally titled Kajaki, the story is based on the real life story of a small contingent of British Soldiers near the Kajaki Dam in Afghanistan.
Tired of hearing your friends say they’ve watched everything on Netflix? Are you finding yourself saying that as well? Maybe the argument of people too cheap to shell out the 8 dollars are saying ‘there used to be good stuff, but it’s all crap now.’ Maybe you find yourself spending more time scrolling than watching. Well I plan to put those idiotic statements and bad behavior to rest. On a week to week basis I will give a solid recommendation or two on what you can sign on, turn on, and enjoy. I’ll try to stay away from the massive titles that everyone knows since those have been covered to exhaustion everywhere else. I’m looking for the hidden gems. The indies, the big name stars in direct to streaming endeavors that are well crafted and creative but wouldn’t gross the 300 million needed to justify a theatrical wide release.
Kajaki Dam, Afghanistan, 2006. A company of British soldiers at a remote outpost stumble into leftover Russian ordnance in a dried out river bed. Every single move they make runs a high risk of critical injuries and death.
Having grown up watching great films about even greater men and women in World War 2 getting into more modern war movies has a strange feel to it. Movies are to entertain, but at times can also be used to educate. Not in the same way a documentary does but telling a compelling story in a gripping medium. It’s tough to watch a film or series about the long running war in the Middle East that has taken so much from my generation but the stories of the brave soldiers deserve to be told as much as any other story, if not more so.
Kilo Two Bravo doesn’t have the ‘Hollywood’ feel many other films of the war on terror have. The Hurt Locker, In the Valley of Elah, Lions for Lambs, The Green Zone, American Sniper and the cream of the crop Lone Survivor are all stunning stories told about the same conflict from all different points of view. It isn’t just the fact that Kilo Two Bravo is English made that separates it from these other fantastic movies but the feel of the entire project.
The whole movie looks like it was shot with a camera a soldier might have. The lighting appears to be all natural, and the film was shot in a location incredibly similar to the one where the story takes place (a stand in was used for safety reasons). The banter and dialogue feels as natural as can be, a feat that is always difficult to achieve, especially with actors who are clearly professionals but not the A-Listers depicted in the films listed above. Even the soundtrack is all but absent. The tension on screen is enough to keep you white knuckling your arm rests.
Kilo Two Bravo isn’t shot in the found footage style but it feels like a real time intimate look at the lives of these soldiers. The character development and introduction to the situation and the men is so spot on you forget what the main premise has in store and dread it that much more when you get the painful reminder that these all around likable and relatable guys are in the worst place in the world at that time. With a relatively short run time of barely over 100 minutes the movie wastes no time in getting to its point. The small amount of time they use to introduce the audience to the characters makes the losses and tension elevated to an almost personal level.
A lot of buzz on the internet claims that Kilo Two Bravo is an anti-war film. This summary is not only too narrow for the quality of the film and the bravery portrayed but almost an insult to the memory and bravery of the soldiers involved. Since this film is based on real life events it is not anti-war, nor is it pro-war, or propaganda, or delivering any other agenda. The story is true and by all online accounts true to the subject matter. Getting facts right is important in the depiction of war films, especially modern ones where the information is so readily available and fresh in everyone’s minds.
A true story of heroism and the cost of the freedoms we all enjoy; Kilo Two Bravo is perfectly executed, and as real and gritty as a war film gets.
