The Outpost (2020)
Outpost Keating, located in a remote portion eastern of Afghanistan, was attacked by a massive Taliban force on 3 October, 2009.
Two men earned the Medal of Honor.
The Outpost is a story of that battle and those men.
I spent nearly eight years on the ground in Afghanistan - about 2,500 days in-country. It is hard for me to watch movies about the war there.
Writing about them is even harder, but given the tiny number of films about America’s longest war - and the sacrifice of the men and women who served there - it would be harder to turn to away from a work like The Outpost.
The outlines of the movie are pretty straightforward. It is a “based on true events,” telling the story of a Taliban assault on American Outpost Keating and the weeks and months leading up to the attack. That is pretty much it from a storytelling perspective: a thing happened…this is the thing.
The story of Outpost Keating is, of course, about much more than a “thing” - it is about people.
The film attempts to turn the spotlight there, giving us glimpses of the personality and character of the men of the outpost, including Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha (Scott Eastwood - Suicide Squad), Captain Ben Keating (Orlando Bloom - Romeo & Juliet), and Specialist Ty Carter (Caleb Landry Jones - Get Out). That gets to my main criticism of the movie.
The film is full of booms, gunfire, and oozing testosterones. And there is nothing wrong with that. Those are reasonably faithful to the reality of the kind of situation the movie presents. What is missing is meaningful development of the people. While they do a fair job of giving you a sense of the characters I mentioned, the vast majority of the men of Outpost Keating are reduced to two or three line bumper stickers.
Some of that is inevitable with a big cast. The film Restrepo, which featured Soldiers - not actors - was similar. Still, the effect is unsatisfying, both from a movie perspective and as an effort to tell the story of the men on the ground. The viewer is so overtaxed trying to keep track of all the players, when tragedy strikes it is hard to feel an emotional connection. A film I can’t watch anymore - but that manages this well - is Lone Survivor. There, the relatively small cast, gives you time to get to know the men as human beings, making each death a gut punch that is as unforgettable and it is impossible to watch.
For all that, it is a solid movie. The actors that get more than 3 lines are good, particularly Bloom and Eastwood (although he is both cool and annoying when he purposely tries to sound like his famous dad).
The Battle of Outpost Keating was a tough one. Eight Soldiers died and many more were injured. The Outpost isn’t the best movie ever made - or the best about this war - but it is a good memorial for those men.
You can catch The Outpost HERE.
Three out of Five Stars.
⭐⭐⭐
Interested in the war in Afghanistan - in film or real life? One of these may be worth checking out.
