LONE SURVIVOR is a predicable but exciting war movie. It stars Mark Wahlberg and tells the story of four Navy SEALS on an ill-fated secret mission trying to gather information on the location of an important Taliban leader. Their task is to helicopter to rugged mountains, observe the goings-on in a nearby Taliban dominated village, and then report back to their superiors (who could plan a major attack).
Lots of things go wrong. The four men lose their communications and are discovered by a goat herder and his two young sons who inform the enemy. Soon they are attacked by a large group of Taliban fighters. (Still not clear to me where the Taliban get their weapons.)
This is an intense film. You get a sense of the brotherhood between the men and also the hopelessness of their situation. You’ll also feel their pain as they desperately attempt to flee by jumping off mountain cliffs onto to rocks and ground below.
The film also deals with a moral issue. When the four SEALs are discovered by the goat herder and his sons, there is a debate about what to do. Do they follow the Rules of Engagement and let them go on the basis that they are innocent civilians . . . or should they kill the civilians to eliminate the risk that they’ll return home and alert the Taliban leaders . . . . which the goat herder ultimately did.
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