Netflix Pick – Hyena Road
This week’s Netflix Pick is a war movie that goes a little deeper than bullets and explosions. Following in the ever growing line of fantastic stories about the war in the Middle East and the bravery of the men and women who are fighting the fight against worldwide terrorism Hyena Road knocks it out of the park This smaller (in terms of Studios and releases) film is well acted, has great video quality, and tells a unique story.
Written and Directed by Paul Gross. Hyena Road follows three men from different walks of life. Sniper Ryan Sanders (Rossif Sutherland), Intelligence Officer Pete Mitchell (Paul Gross), and a mysterious man introduced only as a village elder (Niamatullah Arghandabi). Their lives converge during the early days of the war in the Middle East (early 2000s) when the elder takes Sanders into his home for protection.
Afghanistan has always been a brutal country and there is no exception being made in Hyena Road. The plot has many twists and turns as Sanders and Mitchell try to find the village elder that saved Sanders and his team. They are keen to find this man because Mitchell believes he is an infamous freedom fighter famed for beating the ‘Red Army’ in his youth and would make a powerful ally in eliminating another imposing force in Afghanistan
The action scenes don’t have the same scale as 13 Hours, or The Hurt Locker (films dealing with the same overall conflict). They fall more in line with 2013’s incredible Lone Survivor. The scenes are smaller in scale but feel real in the moments. The way the military handles themselves compared to the insurgents reads as true as any film. In many ways that makes these scenes better than those of the Academy Award winning Hurt Locker. Not to knock Kathryn Bigelow’s fantastic film but a bomb technician running through the streets in a Call of Duty esque blaze of glory really didn’t bring the drama home.
The way the sniper and spotter relationship was handled also rang true. 2014’s American Sniper introduced many film goers to how the role of a sniper really works in war and how it can change the tide. While Hyena Road doesn’t focus exclusively on the sniper unit it was another cool look at a fine oiled military machine.
Smaller movies with lower budgets, namely ones dealing with such large subject matter, are generally made with lower quality than the big budget counterparts. Hyena Road was an exception to this unwritten rule. The video quality, camera control, sound effects, soundtrack, and acting were all excellent. Seeing the Afghan desert (or a convincing stand in), a hostile environment in every possible way, come to life through high quality digital recording and editing was an unexpected treat. The soundtrack was fine, it doesn’t jump out as exceptional but stops the film from feeling flat.
The sound editing that does deserve some credit is the sound effects department. Far too often movies enhance gun fire and bullet ricochet into versions we recognize but are basically representations of what they should sound like. Hyena Road keeps the bangs and cracks abrasive and in your face. The sound effects are excellent and really bring the action scenes to life.
Some of the plot points of Hyena Road become very much by the numbers. The depth of the characters and the uniqueness of the story is where it stands out.
