Combat Obscura

I know for certain that this is not the realities of war, but a cinematic Hollywood adaptation to the world, but nonetheless the film provides an insight. I'm very grateful for the reality in which the film provides As for my comments on how the USA military is... I'll keep that to myself.

Patchwork footage of fighting the Taliban and trying to win villagers' hearts and minds. Principally unfocused.

Screenplay...................................... 3 / 10 Interviews........................................ 3 Visuals................................................ 6 Sound................................................... 7 Editing................................................ 4 Timeless Utility................................. 5 Total.................................................... 28 / 60 ~= 4.7 (rounded to 6) Verdict................................................. Passable for a general audience.

...and for that alone it's probably worth a watch. As a former veteran (and the ONLY reason I mention that is to point out I know what it's like to be under Uncle Sam's thumb) it's both novel and slightly shocking to see this raw view of combat Marines in "global war on terror". The sight of seeing young Marines in a combat zone partaking in weed (presumably there was just no access to the more traditional alcohol) is just one of several candid revelations in this otherwise conventional documentary. I'd be very interested to know the reactions of the Marine brass on seeing "Obscura"... but fortunately, all the UCMJ evil-doer Marines are all safely discharged into civilian life and beyond the reach of the military legal system.

For showing Marines in a true, unvarnished and uncensored way, along with showing some of the unpleasant truths that the American press has been ordered to conceal from the American public, "Combat Obscura" manages to set itself apart from all of the many Nat Geo style, DOD-approved-and-censored documentaries made about the "Forever Wars", so far.

Many people who are rating this, came into expecting a well directed, produced, and polished movie. This is not that, it was not meant to be that. This is the true accounts and events of these corpsmen. This is meant to display there day to day life, not all the stuff everyone says about the military and marine corps. At the end of the day this is a job, and this shows us the job that they have on deployment. It also shows us joe they deal with war, and how they act. This gives incredible insight to what actually happens and is experienced on deployment. The military is not full of perfect men, as one point it was talked about during this film. It captures the faults and the seemingly unwarranted behavior they display. This was recorded by a corpsman and so of course he's not going to know how to create and capture every thing like a paid cameraman. This is a great documentary of reality.

It shows true segments of wartime experience and also what young people who we send to war sometime act like. However, the negative is what naysayers key on. Fact is, what sometimes is said and done in that situation doesn't translate well to the civilian world out of context. The language, horseplay, and interaction with civilians and the enemy are all by products of war. It is harsh, ugly and dark. Our Marines are just trying to survive in an impossible situation not of their own making. It is what it is.