Kajaki: The True Story, film review: One of the first movies to look at the war in Afghanistan from a British perspective
(15) Paul Katis, 108 mins Starring: Mark Stanley, David Elliot, Scott Kyle
Paul Katis's shocking, impressively made movie about British soldiers stationed at the Kajaki Dam, Afghanistan, in 2006 is based on a real story, but it plays like a horror movie.
Early on, the soldiers are shown relaxing at their camp in the mountains, a prelude to the devastation to follow. On what seems like a routine sniper patrol, one soldier steps on a mine. His colleagues rush to help him but are caught in an active minefield. It's as if the landscape itself is turning against them.
If they take a single wrong step, they risk blowing themselves up. Katis ratchets up the tension in effective fashion. He isn't afraid to show gruesome and disturbing imagery of the injuries the men sustain.
The acting is uneven but the film possesses authenticity and intensity – and an obvious significance, as one of the first war movies to look at the war in Afghanistan from a British perspective.
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