The Patrol (2014)

This got a lot of hype when it received its very limited release . The publicity material heavily emphasised writer/director Tom Petch served in the British army for more than eight years which is eight years longer than I served . The publicity was rather reluctant to go in to details and I don't want to sound disrespectful but Mr Petch left the army in 1997 , four years before the war on terror started . Mr Petch was a civilian when the British army entered Helmand province in 2005 and it shows . If nothing else it goes to show than former ex British military can make a dreadful war drama as badly as any British civilian peacenik The success of a war film is to bring a sense of time and place to the audience . The story is set during a British operation in Helmand in 2006 but on nearly every level the entire narrative feels like it's taking place in Vietnam in the early 1970s . Petch claims he made this film to show the lack of proper equipment and of a clear mandate British forces found themselves with in Afghanistan but is badly executed you'd think the director has an agenda somewhere As for the equipment .50 calibre machine guns constantly jam and the reason is put down to bad ammo . Not impossible I guess . I'll give the director the benefit of the doubt even if it happens a bit too often . Likewise radios not working . Apparently though the ire of Petch goes mainly towards the SA80 rifle " If it's supposed to be so good " whines one squaddie " Why don't the SAS use it ? " So if the SAS don't use a certain weapon it must be rubbish ? Not sure if that's good yardstick to judge something with " But who else uses the SA80 ? " whines Mr Whiny 40 years ago all the world's armies were split between using three assault rifles , the M-16 , the FN Fal and the AK47 . Since then nearly every country due to reasons of chauvinism has produced its own assault weapon with the British using the SA80 which is almost universally adored by everyone who uses it in the British Army and is considered better than the American M-4 carbine . Mr Whiny is obviously an obtuse contrarianWhat this makes more problematic for the film is that it ties in with a bigger picture mainly one of characterisation . A British military patrol pushes in to Taliban territory in 2006 within a couple of days morale has collapsed in to near mutiny . Seriously ? From what I've read and heard second hand from squaddies a posting to Helmand in 2006 was a dream posting . Young men join the army to fight and since 1960 no one has been forced to join the British Army . Constant tours to the 'Stan might have taken a toll on the military but this wouldn't have been the case in 2006 . Nor would morale have collapsed to the extent where soldiers constantly disobey mission orders as seen here . What makes it even worse from a logic and drama point of view is the time-frame along with a distinct lack of inciting incident and motive . I don't want to sound like a cheer leader for the Ministry Of Defence but if I had served in Afghanistan I'd feel very insulted by this film and I wouldn't be surprised if some of Mr Petch's erstwhile military colleagues are arranging a firing squad for him as I write this

I think this is a really entertaining film and really worth a watch, really encapsulates the passion that these people go through. Really interesting cinematography and different from most mainstream high budget films.I think anyone that loves films should support artists like this with clearly so much talent and passion. I really like the topic, well executed and with a human side too which is always appealing.I hope to see this film really make it into the main stream, so much of todays films are samey and very much targeted at the same type of people. really hope you watch this and the films with these type of background, it really helps the industry and helps support independent film producers that help prevent the entire industry becoming exactly the same.hope you all enjoy it as much as i did.

Given this is a low-budget film, I wasn't expecting much. Perhaps it was going to have something to say about the war in the Middle East, about politics, interpersonal relationships, maybe even an action scene, but it really doesn't do any of that for me. Even with this initially low expectation, I was still disappointed.During a patrol we follow an incredibly unprofessional main character who complains persistently about anything/everything and is constantly putting everyone else down (just a terrible personality to have in a team; paranoid, easily stressed, quick to anger and takes it out on everyone else). I'm not entirely sure, but I think that through this character's annoyance at everything, there were some brief attempts to raise the question about whether soldiers are adequately equipped, or whether they were doing any good by being out there. The movie then ends, leaving me somewhat regretful. I don't mean to be that harsh on a low-budget film, but this really is one that I wouldn't recommend.

The Patrol is one of the most realistic war films ever made. It's about a small team of British soldiers with "a job to do" in Afghanistan. The only problem is, like the war itself, the job (Operation Icarus) makes no sense. They are sent in to protect a small, all but abandoned village for the "Afghan National Army" (that is nowhere to be found), with obsolete weapons and faulty equipment. What starts out as a three day mission gets extended day in and day out until the soldier's moral becomes at an all time low because they know "this isn't their war" to begin with. They have no stake in it. There is no purpose to it because they know when they leave the Taliban will simply move right back into the town. They are there for one reason and one reason only, because someone somewhere gave them the order to be there despite all logic. The combat scenes are very realistic in that they aren't glamorized but depicted as they happen, just sporadic fighting during which they kill people for no reason whatsoever and they get killed for no reason whatsoever. I can see how this film upsets those who want to cling to the notion that being a soldier and following orders is somehow heroic, but when the war makes no sense and you are asked to die for no logical reason whatsoever, what else can one do but begin to disobey orders. Standing down from an unjust war is the only patriotic thing to do. Everyone should see this film. It is truly realistic and truly a gem.