Afghan Luke

source: Afghan Luke

The first thing I noticed was the sound. It doesn't sound like a feature film - or even a TV drama. Luke, an aspiring journalist who takes himself way too seriously, is an unlikeable sod who believes a rumour that a Canadian Forces sharpshooter is chopping off fingers of dead Taliban fighters - a war crime. The story lacks ambition and imagination; the writing is comical leaving me thinking I was watching a mockumentary. Don't waste your time on this one. It's really quite bad.

Is this movie worth seeing? It might be. It helps us to understand what our people are going through in a war that doesn't meet any of the traditional definitions. Mateen gives Luke an important quote which essentially means "There are no enemies. Only future allies." The reverse is also true. And the people are poor and have to do what it takes to get by. Someone is making billions from the drugs, but not these people, and they resent being told what to do by outsiders. This isn't a comedy, but for those who prefer comedy, there's just enough to make the movie tolerable. The quirky characters are enjoyable. Mateen, who is mostly comic relief, has a chance to be more than that when he experiences a tragedy. It's not exactly family friendly, with numerous instances of the sound going out and a character's mouth blurred, middle fingers blurred (I assume), and the reality of war. For a movie about war, though, this is not that violent. I actually saw the fourth "Rambo" movie the day I saw this, and that was far worse. It's not a classic, but maybe if you like war, it's something worth seeing.

Good story at the start but more boring at the end I had dream a bigger scene for Colin Cunningham he is so great he can do a better character there

The first thing that bothered me about this movie was it was filmed in Nova Scotia. I don't expect a movie crew to film in Afghanistan but come on-...Nova Scotia? Nick Stahl who is a good actor and starred in the Oscar Winning Movie re: IN THE BEDROOM and also THIN RED LINE is sorely in the wrong element here and at the mercy of a poor screenplay. The linear plot line of this movie jumps around like a BB in a bathtub. The plot of the movie failed to have important meaning to me especially after watching the gem of a journalist movie THE BANG BANG CLUB, which you identified which each and every journalist in the field. The journalists in THE BANG BANG CLUB were not in a traditional war but had a brotherhood of camaraderie to their group. This movie had most of the journalists constantly confrontational and their was no caring for each other. The screenplay was tepid and slow and ended with a dud. Nick Stahl can do much better than this. I gave this 2 out of 10 instead of a one only because of Nick Stahl past achievements.

"It's a war, my job is to report what I see." When journalist Luke Benning (Stahl) is on a job in Afghanistan he catches a Canadian sniper cutting the fingers off of his taliban kills. When his paper refuses to print the story he quits and returns to the country to investigate further but soon finds that the fighting and tension has become much worse then when he left. There have been a recent influx of "embedded reporter" movies lately but they have all to this point been entertaining. While this was also a good movie and kept me interested it is basically another version of movies like "5 Days To War" or the "Bang Bang Club" (both of which I thought were better). Stahl does a good job and the movie is tense and thought provoking but like so many movies lately it seems to just copy everything else that is being released. I did like this one but "Bang Bang Club" was a better version. Overall, a movie worth watching but a new idea was needed to make it stand out. I give it a B-.

This movie was a ton of fun to watch, yet still does an excellent job of pointing out how complex and confusing the situation in Afghanistan is. I was shocked to discover this movie was shot in BC as it gave the feeling of the dusty, wide open spaces of Afghanistan. The plot twists and turns in a haphazard way which the professional critics disliked, yet I feel that it matches the nature of a country in turmoil, where humour and horror are combined in unexpected ways. Even though it is difficult to see a solution to the current situation in Afghanistan, I found it encouraging to see the characters grow as the country affects them.

Journalist Luke (Nick Stahl) believes he witnessed a Canadian soldier (a sniper known as Freddy Krueger) cutting off the fingers of a dead Taliban fighter as a trophy and feels this is a crime. No one believes him when he is back at the newspaper in Canada. He feels he must return to Afghanistan and get evidence. The is a good story, simple and easy to follow. The acting performances and dialogues were spot on, but it was the photography that held me. It was extremely good. The movie was not shot in Afghanistan , but somewhere in Canada and the cinematography was fantastic. How did they do that? Kudos. His friend Tom (Nicholas Wright) goes with him but is more interested in the high quality of drugs there. His one-time guide, called a fixer, Mateen (Stephan Lobo) constantly changes sides and says something like: Your enemy today is your future ally. And, we witness a War Lord who wants to be a music producer. There is some humor in these sub plots. This is a different type of war story. Luke is on a mission to find the burial place where the Taliban fighters were shot. Although Luke had been in Afghanistan many times before, he is discovering that things have changed and is now more dangerous and the tension is higher as no one can suspect what will happen next. This is a film most won't see because the actors are unknown and has a low budget, hence not much promotion. But, if the cinematography held me maybe it will hold you too and the story is a good one. I know you are probably thinking you know the outcome of Luke's mission, but you don't. However, if you do know the outcome, book yourself on the Psychic tour. You will make a lot of money. The outcome is really good. HA! And, yes, I am ready for a sequel. (7/10) Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes, many f-bombs.

This is a wonderful little movie. Directed and produced by the same guys as the Trailer Park Boys this is a completely different type of movie. Great work with the muted colours and the dust and dirt of Afghanistan. I don't know how they were able to make BC look like Afghanistan but it is believable and convincing in the movie. It is a little predictable and contrived in parts but the characters are believable and I was hooked in from the very beginning of the movie. The ending however was strong and didn't cave to be a predictable Hollywood want-a-be ending. This movie was easy to watch, easy to understand but still had enough subsistence to allow for great conversations afterwards.

I know this is fiction, but if you're going to have a movie embedded within an historical context, at least attempt to make that context somewhat accurate, or at least believable to anyone with even a limited knowledge of the event/events. I had to turn this off after 15 minutes there were so many inaccuracies. The two things that did seem accurate. 1. It looked like it could be Afghanistan. 2. His guide was getting high. Not accurate; 1. Snipers are not in four-man teams firing from moving vehicles. 2. There are no tent-bars in Afghanistan, much less those with dancing white women. Alcohol is against the law, and while I am sure that alcohol is smuggled in, it's abuse is not flaunted because it is illegal. 3. What newspaper has ever suppressed a story that denigrates soldiers? Answer... none. The typical tact is to exaggerate every infraction and try to instigate it into some Muslim outrage and retaliation.