Uma Repórter em Apuros

One of the reasons that I write reviews of movies is that I hope to turn people on to good movies that might otherwise fly under their radar.

Such is my hope with Tina Fey's latest film WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT - a satirical view of the conflict in Afghanistan as seen through the eyes of a novice International reporter (Fey). What starts out as a funny and corny "fish out of water" movie, slowly morphs into a more serious film about the addictive nature of constantly being in a warzone situation.

Fey is perfectly cast as the central character - war correspondent Kim Baker - who heads to an overseas assignment in Afghanistan to escape a rather humdrum life. I was a little nervous, at first, as all the funny parts that were in the trailer were in the first 1/2 hour of this film - and Fey handles those with aplomb. She is a gifted comedienne, so these scenes looked effortless for her. It is her transition to a more serious reporter, addicted to the adrenaline of her job that Fey really shines. I was impressed with her serious work in THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU and was anxious when it looked like her career regressed with last December's SISTERS, but I'm happy to say she continues to grow as an actress and she is strong in this part.

But, this movie is more than just Fey. She has a very strong supporting cast around her - Martin Freeman as an Irish photographer, Margot Robbie (who continues to grow as an actress) as a friend/journalist competitor to Fey, Alfred Molina as an Afghanistan politician and newcomer (at least to me) Christoper Abbott as Fey's interpreter - they all bring something interesting to the table that helps this movie along.

Special mention should be made of Billy Bob Thornton's General Hollander - the US Commander in the region. While he does not have many scenes in the movie, he brings a presence that is heads and shoulders above everyone else when he is on screen. This fits well in this movie, for the Commanding General in that region should be heads and shoulders above the rest. He also gave me the best laugh in this movie (a joke I will not spoil here).

This movie is much, much more than a simple rom-com or military comedy, it is a Comedy/Drama that brings quite a bit of heart to it. I would strongly encourage you to seek this one out, you'll be glad you did.

8 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to Bank (of Marquis)

This movie is another one from the lazy mind chain that we simply have started to refer to as 'Hollywood' nowadays. I could digest some of the American jingoism paraded recently in all their sci-fi movies, but when you are delivering something about a region torn by American hegemonic war of 16 years (and counting), the jokes about Afghan men humping donkeys as a joke just brings bad taste in the mouth.

The movie is based on the memoirs of a news journalist (real life Kim Baker book ' The Taliban shuffle') who is reluctantly pushed in the war torn Afghanistan to cover the media news coverage. Tina fey stars as the main character. I'm not particularly fan of Tina fey and her pretending to put a girlish vibe in her 40's just doesn't cut it. The western women are presented as some sex deprived nymphs with lines of "when your p** starts eating your leg after 2 months then tell me". Really are women in west so thirsty after 2 months?. Almost half the movie is filled with partying of women, drinking, trying to be adventurous or just delivering nasty one liners to men about urinating in the open or becoming bold every time with false bravado. (seriously?)

Characters don't really seem to give any heed to the country they are trying to cover OR the poor people they are supposed to be looking out as foreign 'saviours'. Afghans are portrayed as someone belonging to neolithic period and so is the country. As a consultant who has visited Afghanistan around the same period, I can safely say that all the caricatures developed here are utter nonsense and denigrating to the country's state as many of the amenities available in a developed society are available in Afghanistan's bigger cities. Same is the depiction of Chinese brothels in Afghanistan and lines uttered about 'Taliban punishing men whose under hair used to curl on their sticks(!)' (spoken by some high profile Afghan senator) which is another unverified account.

In reality what the movie overlooks completely how American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan are living in one of the highly sophisticated luxury affairs that any soldier can dream nowadays. Hollywood depictions of how American system is better than others by taking puns on other cultures are coming off as fake and repetitively boring.

A real gem of a film that you shouldn't miss. I saw the trailer and immediately felt the need to see though I had my reservations about Tina Fey in a black comedy/drama film. Guess what! Tina surprised me with her performance (not acting-wise, but presence-wise). I know this doesn't make any sense, but picture an actress shining in a movie without an over the top performance, not an easy job to do. Whether Tina has grown to be great at many genres OR the movie was simply destined for her real life character.

The story-telling and events flow like nobody's business and the representation of Afghan People in the movie is beyond great. The movie balances between realistic approaches and the mainstream Hollywood agendas.

I really recommend this film to all kinds of viewers.

OK, so Tina Fey isn't actually a soldier, but she's not the horny bimbo who gets busy with George Clooney in Three Kings either. Its now clear that Tina Fey is one of the most multi-talented people in the entertainment world, and this movie will go far toward solidifying her reputation as a broad gauge polymath. Aside from everything else, its clear she's a wonderful actor, and interestingly enough all the really strong central characters in this movie are indeed women (as Tina ruefully laments that she should have googled one particular character.) Don't worry, there's plenty of blood and guts, bad language, and techno porn for the teen-aged boys (why on earth would anybody come to a R rated movie with WTF as the title and give it a bad review for being shocked by language, sex, and violence. Don't however, expect Margot Robbie or anyone else to replay Margot's Wolf of Wall Street shenanigans.) Even the Anglo actors playing indigini (as we called the locals in Viet nam) are wonderful. Well worth seeing, worth owning.

I am impressed. This is one of the few films which has inspired me to read the source material; the autobiography by the journalist Kim Baker..

The film starts with comic moments as greenhorn middle-America Kim Baker (Tina Fey) arrives in a war zone. Then, the film darkens as it touches on the corruption of the expatriate community and the seduction of war reporting.

Surprisingly, Tina Fey can act in a dramatic role. Being comic with a straight face, facing danger, fending off romeos, and falling in love. In the end, Kim Baker rediscovers herself and returns home.

The film deals superficially with the horror faced by Afghan civilians and the root causes of the insurgency. However, this is the story of a white woman in a foreign land.

Overall, the film was predictable but lightly touches the soul. Credit to the editor for walking the difficult line between entertainment and horror. The rest of the cast did a creditable job.