The Outpost - The True Story of Battle of Kamdesh with Strong Documentary Feel and Realistic Battle Scenes

During last weekend, I watched 3 new movies on various platforms and this was 1 of them. I was intrigued to try as it seemed promising. OK let's get on with it.

Brief Story Line

In 2006, there were several military outposts set up by US Armies in Afghanistan to support reconstructions of the country. One of those was called Kamdesh Outpost which was under the command of Captain Keating (Orlando Bloom - Carnival Row TV series, Pirates of the Carribbean movies etc). For some time, the outpost has been the subject of attacks from the Taliban due to its position that was surrounded by mountains, making it difficult to defend.

The outpost were guarded by soldiers from various ranks such as Specialist Ty Carter (Caleb Landry Jones - American Made, The Dead Don't Die etc), Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha (Scott Eastwood - Overdrive, The Longest Drive etc), Sergeant Josh Kirk (Jack Kesy - Claws TV series etc), Staff Sergeant Gallegos (Jacob Scipio - Bad Boys for Life etc), 1st Lieutenant Bundermann (Taylor John Smith - Sharp Objects mini series etc) and many others.

On 3rd October 2009, the outpost was suddenly attacked by hundreds of Taliban fighters and these US soldiers had to fight against all odds to defend it while waiting for the air support. 

End of Brief Story Line

When I saw the words based on true story in the opening credits, I thought this movie would be just like other films with lot of dramatization to make it more entertaining. However this one did not have too much of those. In fact, the first half felt much like a documentary where a cameraman was taking shots on real life soldiers in the outpost with whatever they were doing.

What amazed me though was actually the part showing the Taliban attack half way through the film. That was some really extraordinary film making with many shots done so close to the soldiers that I really felt the intensity of the brutal and violent attack. It was just breath taking and from what I read on the internet, many critics praised the reality of the terror and even some of the soldiers from the outpost were full of praise as well.

Because of the style of directing by Rod Lurie (Straw Dogs, Nothing but the Truths etc), the movie felt different from other Hollywood war films. Due to its documentary feel, I did not have too much feeling of attachment like I would have sensed if there were some dramatization or more background story. However, in the aftermath of this attack, the emotional feelings were really enhanced, especially during that final helicopter scene. I also applaud some of the cast, but if I have to single out, I thought Caleb Landry Jones gave a brilliant performance. 

To honor the soldiers who survived this Battle of Kamdesh, there were interviews done on them which were shown during the closing credits. We were also shown some footage of real TV interviews of the survivors, including the photos of the ones who did not survive with the actors who portrayed them. Oh there were also real soldiers playing in the movie. 

Overall this was a movie that was great in honoring the people who fought the battle with some realistic war scenes. It was based on non-fiction book titled The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor written by journalist Jake Tapper. So if you like a war movie with attributes I mentioned above, you can give this a try. It's currently available on HBO Go application and HBO channel.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars