Neither Heaven Nor Earth

The war in Afghanistan has been going on so long that some of the most compelling documentaries and journalism about Western military experiences in that country now seem like ancient history. A kind of horror fable presented in the form of a realistic war movie, writer-director Clément Cogitore's feature finds that French soldiers under the command of Capt. Antarès Bonassieu (Jérémie Renier)—all cooped up behind fortress walls in the mountains near an Afghani village of often hostile shepherds and elders—have begun to inexplicably disappear. Is it desertion, or abduction by impossibly stealthy interlopers? The evidence doesn't support either theory, spurring Bonassieu to harass locals for answers and to forge an unlikely truce with Taliban leaders who are also experiencing bizarre vanishings. The film's scary, fantastic Twilight Zone-like element with the missing soldiers allows the director to be artfully ambiguous, but the otherwise gritty story too often veers awkwardly into the dreamlike and poetic. Still, there is much to admire, ranging from the strong cast to nicely captured sensory details of a modern command post. A strong optional purchase. (T. Keogh)