As a United States Marine stationed in Afghanistan in 2011-12, filmmaker Miles Lagoze was tasked with shooting video footage of the war (some of which has shown up in media outlets like CNN). But Lagoze, who worked his shaky camera during firefights with the Taliban, also kept it rolling in many other situations, resulting in a mountain of revealing outtakes of the Forever War that he has held onto all these years. That delay was not because Lagoze was fashioning a glossy tell-all documentary dripping with political context. In fact, Combat Obscura is comprised of the roughest of barely-edited raw footage, and has the look of a major event on cable news before a producer determines what can be shown and what the narrative should be. What Lagoze captures are moments of fatal mistakes and overreach by American occupiers, from shelling the wrong building to rounding up men in a village because their gathering looked to an officer like a Taliban meeting (it wasn’t). But there is also gripping real-time drama of battle, including a fraught scene in which a helicopter crew—aiming to transport a dying Marine during the middle of a grueling fight—struggle to reach the wounded soldier. Combat Obscura provides valuable extended footage of the war on the ground, and while several years have passed since this material was filmed, it seems unlikely that the fight in 2019 looks all that much different. Extras include an interview with Lagoze, and the director’s official Department of Defense videos. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)
Combat Obscura
(2018) 70 min. DVD: $34.99, Blu-ray: $39.99. Oscilloscope (avail. from most distributors). Volume 34, Issue 5
Combat Obscura
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