the movie “promise» by Guy Ritchie, a good propaganda film for the United States Army. On the one hand, you have the traditional story of American heroes, and on the other hand, you have a story that recounts to you the details of the struggles that the Afghan people, and especially the translators, went through during and after the occupation of Afghanistan. For more information on film reviews The Covenant Be with Vijayato.
Synopsis: During the war in Afghanistan, a local translator risks his life to carry a wounded American sergeant during a grueling chase for miles.
The Testament of Guy Ritchie: A solid film about a weak lie
The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the United States have a mysterious scenario and many unresolved hidden angles. But after that incident, the United States mobilized its largest military force to search for Osama bin Laden and asked the Taliban to extradite him. But the Taliban refused and bin Laden fled to Pakistan. America and its allies remained to carry out operations in Afghanistan until the end of 2021. But now two decades have passed since America’s adventure in Afghanistan, and in addition to 2 trillion dollars in costs, thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed in Afghanistan, there is no news of reconstruction and economic problems are rampant.
America invaded Afghanistan with a large number of military forces in 2001 with the slogan of fighting terrorism, establishing a democratic system, bringing peace and stability, and eliminating drug cultivation and administrative corruption in Afghanistan. Finally, after 20 years of occupation, America left Afghanistan with nothing to be proud of, with a terrible defeat and left the people of this country alone with many problems and destruction.
So keep this information in the corner of your mind and know that in Afghanistan, the United States is not a sympathetic hero. During the war in Afghanistan, the US hired thousands of local people to become their interpreters in exchange for money, visas and passports for the interpreters and their families. It was this appeal that made the translator position in demand by many local people who wanted to leave Afghanistan because their families had been targeted by the Taliban. The role of interpreters is also vital for the US military, as they indirectly protect soldiers from the Taliban who target them.
Now this scenario has become the main subject of Guy Ritchie’s movie “The Covenant”. Don’t forget that this movie is directed by Guy Ritchie, who likes movies about tough men, especially about criminals in England. But in the film “Ahad” he actually directs a kind of modern western. But why Western?! Because we see an American who comes to save a native, but the same native saves him from death. And now the American hero returns to the field in cowboy style to save the native.
Overall, story-wise, the film follows the unbreakable bond of friendship between an American sergeant and an Afghan translator as they try to save each other from the Taliban on a case-by-case basis. Both characters seem to embody the ideal of the hero, ready to sacrifice everything to honor and justify the debts they feel to each other. This point is better understood by the good acting of Jake Jellinhal and Dar Salim in the two main roles.
Everything in the film “The Covenant” seems to be made to show the essence of the “American ideal”; And rightfully so, it’s done by Guy Ritchie in the best possible way. Guy Ritchie delivers some impressive sequences at points, shot with variations on his familiar adventure techniques that characterize his filmography. From a creative point of view, it would be unfair not to mention Ed Wilde’s successful cinematography, which gives a very special image of vast landscapes under a misty and cloudy sky, and Christopher Benstead’s dynamic orchestral score.
Guy Ritchie’s style change
In his first war movie, Guy Ritchie does not use the usual style and signature as in his previous works. For example: there are no more quick cuts or whip editing and many repetitive dialogues, everything is generally executed like a normal movie. In fact, for those of us who may be used to watching Guy Ritchie’s previous movies, watching this movie will have a different feeling until the end.
In Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant, what caught my attention from a form or technical point of view was the depiction of the visual perspective that John’s character (Jake Gyllenhaal) showed while unconscious during a special sequence in the middle of the film. In this particular shot, Ritchie rotated the camera 180 degrees to make it look like this is what John or the American soldier is seeing at that moment.
Following are important visual flashes, one by one, of Ahmad’s (Dar Salim as an Afghan translator) journey from the river to the burning house to the tall grass, all of which are rotated and placed parallel to the surface of the wooden stretcher that Ahmad has built. .
Capturing these particular shots is the pinnacle of Guy Ritchie’s direction in the film. One of Guy Ritchie’s strengths is his high level of musicianship in every film he works on. In this regard, he still uses Christopher Benstead, who worked with him from Aladdin to this new work, and again this collaboration has produced a good result.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare from Guy Ritchie’s point of view
In the movie “Ehed”, the action and shooting scenes are fast, energetic and tense. You can feel the impact of each bullet and each explosion and death has its own weight. The film is expertly shot and clearly a lot of effort has been put into getting these moments right from a tactical and cinematic point of view. But after the first act of the movie, when the story passes its first point, you finally enter the main story.
From the point where Ahmed and Jan are ambushed and have to cross hundreds of miles of Taliban territory to return to their base, the film takes a turn. This part of the movie is the most interesting part as Ahmed stumbles into this dream state while performing the superheroic feats of humanity. He carries John, bargains, drives and drags John to a safe place.
The performance of this part of the film, with Jake Gyllenhaal completely unconscious due to his injuries, includes a wonderful performance by Dar Salim as Ahmed. Salim is a charismatic and heroic movie all over the world. It never burns out, gives up, or shows any weakness. Of course, the movie has a stroke halfway through. In fact, from those fascinating moments, the film falls asleep as suddenly as possible.
But maybe you can say what is the reason for this downward trend?! Because when John returns home, the movie loses a bit of its momentum. It takes time to explain how the bureaucratic process stops. So this may be a way for the audience to feel what John is feeling, but these moments don’t work in the film. In the end, John pleads with his commanding officer to get the necessary paperwork for Ahmed and his family, setting off a predictable cliché. It should also be noted that the film’s villains, the Taliban and their high command, don’t really have any development or motivation other than “we’re the bad guys”.
Conclusion
Many storytellers have tried hard to extract a valid interpretation from the seemingly endless military conflicts in the Middle East that have taken place since the turn of the century. Obviously, there is great potential to uncover powerful images of a complex political landscape in the face of a humanitarian crisis exacerbated by US foreign intervention.
However, many have struggled to provide an engaging portrait, especially in a medium that must invent its own scenarios and cannot directly draw on the sources involved as a documentary can. with these explanation, “The Testament of Guy RitchieAnother attempt to find meaning in this sea of despair is by making the situation more hopeful. However, its results are as similar to previous works in introducing America as the hero of the story, which many previous attempts have followed the same anti-truth path.
