Hyena Road

[daftandbarmy]

Friend of mine, who's former ANA and now living in Toronto, went to see it over the weekend and he was thoroughly impressed.  He was very pleased with the portrayal of both his home country and the Afghans in general, saying it was one of the most accurate he's seen on film/tv ever.

I am going to have to wait until next weekend to go see it since I'm going to be out of town and promised the other half that we'd go together.  Given the reviews from soldiers and non-soldiers alike, this may be one of the few movies that has come as close to 'getting it right' as we're likely to see.

Well, that's good enough for me! 

 

[PuckChaser]

It redeemed Gross from Passchendale for me. Excellent film, but then again, I can turn off the OCD that everything must be perfect. It's fairly accurate WRT equipment, some cheesy lines that normal civilians wouldn't think would be so cheesy, but overall very good.

 

[RocketRichard]

An excellent film.  Two thumbs up.

 

[prairefire]

I saw Hyena Road this evening with my nephew who was in Afghanistan with 2VP and forward deployed. We both found the film very enjoyable and many of the combat scenes were to him a realistic depiction of what he had been through. He remarked that much of the stuff was somewhat sanitized while other aspects were a little bit  :facepalm: displayed with artistic license, to use his turn of phrase. Having been out of the army for some 20 years I looked at the film through 2 sets of eyes. One as a soldier with out of date info, and as a civilian with some insight provided by my nephew and a few other friends who were deployed to KAF. As a previous poster had observed the radio procedure was very accurate and certain aspects, like the beard was irritating. But looking at the movie through eyes that would best be described as those of an educated civilian it was bloody good entertainment. All in all it was a positive portrayal of Canadian soldiers working under tough conditions and hinted at the difficulty of making morally correct choices with imperfect info. A point that some of my more progressive friends are not happy with...... you mean soldiers at war can do good? Sarcasm Intended. On leaving the cinema my nephew and I were discussing some technical aspects of the film when two couples overheard us and then asked me(the old guy) if I was there. I said no he was....my baby faced nephew..... They were surprised and we somewhat sheepish when they thanked him profusely for his service.

 

[Ludoc]

...the beard was irritating.

He was an Int weenie, probably had a beard chit, they all seem to.

 

[Flavus101]

It redeemed Gross from Passchendale for me. Excellent film, but then again, I can turn off the OCD that everything must be perfect. It's fairly accurate WRT equipment, some cheesy lines that normal civilians wouldn't think would be so cheesy, but overall very good.

I think that is quite well put.

 

[Louie Palu]

Hey everyone,

Alot of interesting and good debate and discussion going on here. If you want to see Kandahar Journals it will be screening in Ottawa on November 11 at the Bytowne Theater for Remembrance Day. Details here-

http://www.bytowne.ca/movie/kandahar-journals

The documentary Channel (a CBC subscription special channel) has broadcasts on these days
Oct 30 and Nov 16 both at 10 pm

If you are interested in the film and the background on how it was made the website has loads of information on my 5-years there- www.kandaharjournals.com

You can also follow the film on twitter- @kandaharfilm
and on its Facebook page here- https://www.facebook.com/KandaharJournals

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

There were some Op HONOUR worthy lines in that film. 

"I'm going to fraternize the shit outta you!"

"I'm going whip out my 777 and shoot a fire mission all over your backside!"

When Gross said that I got creeped out lol.

"Cyprus was amazing!"

"I got pregnant in Cyprus"

Movie has some ridiculous lines!

 

[BeyondTheNow]

I have neither the knowledge nor experience to be able to critique anything negatively about the film in terms of combat, realism, etc. And of course, any knowledge I DO possess about the CAF role in A-stan is only through news/media, independent articles, friend's experiences and the like.

I'm happy when there's attention brought to CDN roles in battle at any time, really. We're so inundated with the US and what they've done (even so much as taking credit for other country's successes in certain movie portrayals) during war that it's nice when someone takes the time to focus on Canada, fictional or otherwise.

I didn't particularly care for the acting on a few bit-parts here and there, but having gone to see it with civilians, it was nice being able to field the basic questions they had. Even so much as explaining simple things like uniform, rank, basic policy, terminology etc. Whatever draws interest, conversation, curiosity, etc is fine by me, regardless of whether the movie was liked overall or not.

I enjoyed it for the most part. But I absolutely understand those who may not have liked it/aren't interested in it, because they either lived it and/or can see too many instances of things that aren't realistic.

 

[RedcapCrusader]

I went to go see it on Friday and was sadly informed that it had been pulled from all but one theatre in Calgary because "...it didn't do very well..."


It's sad that the public apathy toward our Armed Forces plus American domination in the entertainment industry has once again forced Canadian content to die in a dark corner.

Not happy.

 

[CBH99]

LunchMeat,

I actually saw it at the movie theatre at CrossIron Mills last week.

I don't know if it was Canadian apathy, or the fact that most people I spoke to hadn't even heard of it. 

Obviously this "crowd" heard about it ages ago, and made a mental point that we would see it.  And the preview did play in theatres for quite some time, which helped.  But I hadn't seen a single TV ad for it - I don't know, maybe that's one of the reasons not many people went to go see it?

I kept telling people "it looked good" and "they should go check it out" - and 9 times out of 10, they hadn't even heard of it.  So I'm not sure it was a matter of apathy, or perhaps promoting it differently could have helped.

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

Canadians just aren't that interested in movies like this one and tbf there were a lot of A-Grade movies it had to compete with, The Martian, Hotel Transylvania and Sicario to name but a few.

Also, I know some folks here commented that they thought the film was good.  I'll go out and say that I thought it was just "ok".  The acting was meh for me and it reminded me more of a made for TV movie or straight to Netflix than a movie worthy of a theatrical release.

Gross just has a way of taking a serious subject and making it feel so hokey pokey. 

 

[BeyondTheNow]

...But I hadn't seen a single TV ad for it - I don't know, maybe that's one of the reasons not many people went to go see it?...

Agreed. There wasn't very much advertising attributed to it at all. That may have helped it attract a larger audience. (Passchendaele had more.) But I also wonder if budget played a factor in that. They simply may not have had the funds to drop into substantial advertising to help promote it.

 

[Strike]

I know that Paul Gross ended up delaying filming of the movie by more than a year because of lack of funding.  I think you might have hit the nail on the head.  The cost of advertising was just too much considering what he DID spend the money on, but that's okay too.  Maybe it will get picked up by Canadian proadcasters to get televised during Remembrance Week programming in future years.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Best to use social media, cheap, fast and done right can spread far and wide.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

With it's new funding in the works, the CBC will take it over. It will go to TV format and we'll be supporting it with viewings and our tax dollars, at least, twice yearly.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Worse things could happen, at least it's about our military and not a blue beret to be found.  ;D

 

[bick]

I saw Hyena Road last Friday with a buddy of mine who has been out for almost 20 years. We both enjoyed the movie even though there were a few goofy moments. Overall, a good film.

 

[CombatDoc]

I saw the movie and thought it was mostly ok. Gross certainly captured the feel of a FOB in Afghanistan, and interspersed shots that he took in the 'Stan when he visited during Roto 10. Some of it was a bit hokey, like the relationship between two of the characters (Capt and WO), as well as the Capt staying in theatre despite her medical issue. Interesting that General Rilmen is clearly modelled on BGen Milner (an anagram), including Gen Milner's unique style of speech.

 

[Towards_the_gap]

I'm trying to watch it now.....I'm sorry but it's terrible...