The Outpost Review: Just Another Day in Afghanistan

so before we get started this video is actually a request by multiple subscribe star Bros this has won a lot of people wanted me to cover and it's finally time to sit down and talk about what's probably one of the best war movies to come out in recent years [Music] he's growing up without me you know this is how it goes remember it's all good getting that bad for you I'll get out okay I'll finish this deployment and we'll start a family is that my son put him on the phone I see you hey man when you watch the news on TV you see bad guys doing bad things to good people like you and Mommy it's my job to take care of the bad guys to find them and to kill them [Music] foreign [Music] foreign this is one hell of a movie to put it simply this easily became one of my top 10 war movies like period so The Outpost is the film adaptation to the actual Battle of kamdesh that took place in 2009 specifically it's adapting the book that talked about the circumstances leading up to the battle and the conflict itself The Outpost and untold story of American Valor written by Jake Tapper the film was directed by Rod Laurie and stars and ensemble cast most noteworthy actors being Scott Eastwood who is Clint Eastwood's son Caleb Landry Jones and Orlando Bloom the rest is a cast of relatively small note people a few TV appearances here and an indie film there this isn't an insult this is actually something I really liked about the movie but we'll talk about that towards the end he also had some guys who actually served at The Outpost in real life appear in the movie as well specialist Ty Carter Caleb Jones's character as a cameo first lieutenant Henry Hughes who didn't actually fight in the battle but did serve at The Outpost has a key supporting role as sergeant Brad Larson by the the way this dude went on to become a filmmaker himself though the only things he's done is appear in this movie and directed a short film called day one which sucks because this guy was great I'm not saying the short film sucked apparently it's actually really good I'm saying it sucks he doesn't do more stuff but you also have specialist Daniel Rodriguez who plays himself in the movie it's a small part but it's cool they got the real guy to show up going the extra mile for authenticity you know now the actual story of The Outpost is a crazy one in the middle of butt [ __ ] Afghanistan he had a small Outpost referred to as PRT cam Dash PRT standing for provincial reconstruction team which was occupied by the American Military specifically the Army you see the idea behind the occupation of Afghanistan was to take this region devastated by the invasion of the Soviets back in the 80s and provide the tools to build basic infrastructure running water electricity schools even going so far as training The Afghani military for them the problem is that there were major culture clashes between America and Afghanistan which especially went sour when mujahideen groups trained and supplied by CIA decided they knew how to run things better than everyone else Afghanistan thought they were essentially being groomed into being a puppet for America and America felt like they were trying to fill a water balloon with a hole in it that their efforts were wasted and the people they're trying to help were ungrateful the guy that comes you know shakes her hand takes the 10 bags of rice we give him for his family and the school supplies and codes and immediately walks with them out and shoots an RPG at us walks back down and smiles the next morning when he's walking his goats [ __ ] his heart and [ __ ] his mind also there was a little thing where uh a lot of the Afghanistan economies based around poppy which is basically morphine and heroin so there are rumors that the CIA was getting involved in the drug trade and supplying heroin for Black Operations yeah also don't even get me started on how America's relationship with Israel affected things because oh boy yeah it's well known how much Muslims and Jews hate each other there's numerous documentaries you can watch about different groups of soldiers being deployed to Afghanistan and every single one has not had a good word to say about The Afghani National Army I don't respect the corn guys like when you gather them all up no they're a bunch of liars and they didn't want us they didn't want our help hell there's outright guys on YouTube who rant about it we were near them essentially what I'm trying to say is they were completely [ __ ] useless and more than useless they were a hindrance so the thing about the um the and this is again this is 2008-2009 era knowledge is that you call it an army but it's really more like Pirates you know they always talk about oh the captain you know makes you walk the plank the captain would walk the plank the captain had to keep the crew happy so the deal with you know the officers is you know people would just wander off if you were too mean or you let them on too dangerous of a mission you didn't feed them you didn't you know let them go home in time to plant crops and then come back three months later so the officers were in charge but uh basically consensus decided things it's simply a situation where nobody involved wanted the other guy to be there and the end goal was some vague ideal that couldn't possibly be met it especially didn't help that certain figures in America were directly funding and supplying Terror groups turning into a big game of push the boulder up the hill yeah don't believe me ask why so much money was pumped into the Middle East yet no progress was ever made it's like that scene Apocalypse Now where you build the bridge at day it was for it to explode at night and in the morning you were just expected to put it all back together only it's even more egregious because the guys that blew up the bridge were funded and supplied by the suits that were supposed to be giving you money and supplies yeah it's a grim subject matter hell it was basically open policy in the 80s the mujahideen John McCain was literally documented meeting with the leaders of Isis this is a rabbit hole I recommend you guys check into because it directly impacted the outcome of the conflict the occupation of Afghanistan became what's known as a proxy conflict a way to pour money into a region and move product for arms manufacturers I mean by definition a proxy conflict is more of two separate Nations using a third party Nation as a way to fight each other without actually having to declare war but now it's just sort of slang for any time a certain conflict in the world becomes something it was never intended to actually be and they're pretty easy to spot when you look into it enough look at how much money is being sent into a country yet no progress is ever made how many times you have these dramatic headlines in the news about how Victory is just a short week away then that week comes and nothing happened and nobody's coming home yeah it's actually pretty nefarious it eases you into a sense of security so you never actually have to think about the war meanwhile that's basically like a coal mine at that point it's always chugging and it never intends to stop yeah I'm getting off track here let's get back to the actual movie I can't argue and fight at the same time can't argue and fight at the same time don't do it again point is these poor [ __ ] that got deployed didn't have a choice in the matter they had to suck it up and put it out of their heads while their buddies were getting shot at so already their story is pretty bleak a bunch of guys just trying to do their job in a conflict that even they knew was a massive case of sunken cost fallacy you know what our mission is not really sir trying to keep the locals happy which is already tenuous due to culture clashes between the west and Afghanistan and never fully being able to trust anybody they meet because they don't know if the Afghani Army is going to shoot them in the back or simply Run for the hills the first part of the movie is covering the build up to the actual battle the soldiers and their routines as stated this is an ensemble movie so you get small scenes with each character funny moments to fights to just mundane periods of them trying to figure out what the [ __ ] to talk about there is sort of a structure to it going through each Commander that was in charge of the base until you get to the actual battle itself the idea is that the story is sort of a stubble effect slash reverse Goldilocks deal the beginning focuses on Captain Keating who's played by Orlando Bloom he's a beloved Commander that's able to balance the needs of his men with keeping a decent level of respect with the locals now it's not perfect and in all fairness the movie does simplify it too much because even when Keating was in charge they were major conflicts that were Brewing up between the different tribes but it was only made worse after keating's death killed him freak accident when a truck they're trying to move to a different base falls off a cliff the next guy that replaces Keating is Captain yeskas who knew to take care of his troops but ends up pissing off the villagers disregarding how sensitive the situation was though for good reason since the village Elders allowed their men to work with a Taliban yet still expected to get paid by the Americans this causes things to start going downhill and yescus is outright assassinated killed by an IED on a bridge after him comes Captain Broward who was a mixed bag while Keating and yescus would let their guys improvise in a situation and Float Rules of Engagement when Common Sense takes priority Broward was a very by the books guy to the point that he wouldn't even let his guys fire Motors during an attack unless they confirm they see a guy with a weapon even if they're directly being shot at [ __ ] obvious understandably the guys are frustrated dealing with him seeing Broward as incompetent or too cowardly to stand up to the locals obviously this is a real dude who actually exists well okay technically but there's actually some interesting stuff about that uh Broward himself is not real he might be based on a guy by the name of Melvin Porter since he was technically the guy on paper that was in command of Keating before it got attacked in the movie he was kind of a dick so it might have come down to the guy in real life didn't want to officially be represented in the movie and looked [ __ ] awful hell there was even a Reddit post or a guy who claimed to have actually been at Camp Keating flat out said that Broward was fake how real that is I don't know but point is Broward is fake and he might be based on the actual commander that wasn't charged before the attack and that Commander probably didn't want to be shown in the movie being a [ __ ] [ __ ] this actually happens more than a few times in the movie where there's somebody that's a fictionalized character but they're representing someone who might have been real in real life uh and just sort of applying events that happened to them to this fictional character because for when the actual staff on base was much larger than what the movie shows and in fact the bass all around was bigger but obviously due to budget restraints and time restraints they wouldn't have time to show as much as it was so this isn't the most historically accurate movie in fact I'll go into some of the most infamous parts of it that are blatantly wrong but don't confuse that for the movie itself being bad it is really good just if you know your [ __ ] and you know this story obviously this is gonna stick out and be like that's not what happened but yeah the point is the situation is very tenuous and he can't blame a guy for cracking down if they were skirting the rules even if it's a situation where you probably should turn a blind eye and let things just happen now in the guy's defense he was under the impression that military leadership were watching since the Outpost was supposed to be closing it's something he hammers over and over again and even he's smart enough to know that this should not reach the locals who already think the Americans are going to stiff them on the money they promise to rebuild infrastructure you guys see what I mean with the reverse Goldilocks comparison Keating was the best balanced Commander but he dies Jessica cares about his men but he ends up screwing up their relationship with the Villagers he dies and Broward comes in to replace Broward seems to adhere far too hard to the rule book and even bends over backwards to appease The Afghani locals even paying them compensation for a girl they killed and tried to blame on the Americans and what really pushes the situation into full-blown [ __ ] show is that the news about the Outpost closing escapes the base so the locals are pissed thinking the Americans will never pay them their money so the already sinking relationship goes into full-blown tailspin resulting in a massive battle something like 300 some odd insurgents against around 120 some odd Allied Forces the movie as stated makes this seem a lot smaller where it's like 30 guys or so fighting them all off but that's simply because they wanted to focus on each soldier's impact in the fight and they just wouldn't have the money to cover it all and I will say this is probably one of the best battles ever put in a war movie it's intense I mean it's really just a crazy sequence each character desperately running around trying to figure out what to do and where to go with explosions and gunfire all around them only made even crazy here with how the movie has a good use of long takes there are some clear Children of Men influence with the filmmaking since there's points in the movie where they stick with one character and you see them run from one end to the Outpost to the other all in one shot or at least a very long shot it's not as in-depth as children of men since that's something you just have to see to understand also it's no one cut of the dead but I mean come on there can only be one but this definitely had moments where it got close the sheer amount of coordination alone must have been mind-boggling another highlight for the film is how well acted it is I mentioned before that a lot of the cast were smaller known people and I think that works in the film's favor sometimes getting a big name actor can actually make it harder to buy them as a character you'll just see them as the actor and won't be able to get out of your head hell I guarantee that's the exact feeling you'll get when you see Orlando Bloom in the movie that's not to say it was bad just that all you'll be thinking about is Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean but with having the cast be smaller people allows you to sit back and do them as just their character which helps cement a much beloved aspect of the film next to Generation Kill this is probably one of the best depictions of the military and film from the dialogue to how they fight there's an attention to detail to making it all feel authentic you can go from funny moments where guys jerking it to a picture of his buddy's wife to somebody having a mental breakdown due to the stress and Trauma getting to him it's actually able to show kind of both sides to it where you have the really funny parts mixed with when [ __ ] gets serious and these guys have to knuckle down and get to work the characters in particular are great each Soldier feels distinct from each other and none of them ever felt like a stereotype you can pick up on their personalities and their role in the story Scott Eastwood's character is meant to be the Rough and Tumble America man sort of like how his dad would have been cast he's experienced well liked in the team and is a natural leader Caleb Landry's guy is the outsider he's got an attitude problem and never really feels like he fits in with a group picking fights and getting into arguments some people flat out tell him to his face they don't like him or trust him even if it is frat boy [ __ ] Larson's right nobody knows if they can trust you but he winds up being a pretty major badass that goes above Beyond to help out his friends you understand how this guy in Scott Eastwood's guy both won Medals of Honor by the end these two are the biggest examples since their characters really take charge as the story ramps up but there's a ton of other characters that get moments to shine and you really feel the chaos of the situation as each group is separated and have to find ways to survive and just how things can break down in seconds soldiers die either from making one small mistake letting Panic get to them and they stop thinking or just sheer bad [ __ ] luck hell their characters that get a decent amount of screen time dedicated to them who are just killed off out of nowhere with no drama or gravitas whatsoever it never feels cheap I mean these are people who actually did die in real life so you can't exactly avoid that aspect instead it's just an objective depiction of the events while it does take the American side on the issue it doesn't try to pretty up what happened and with it being so grounded the moments were does indulge in more emotional moments hits pretty hard the scene right before the battle where the soldiers are just calling home and talking with their families is one of the highlights all also Carter's therapy session at the end of the film is pretty heartbreaking it's clear the film has a lot of respect for the subject matter and this is a case where they adapt the events with as much exaggeration necessary to break it down into one movie because that stated this wasn't a very clear line to follow it was a long boiling sequence of events that happened to explode it can't be a hundred percent accurate but it does address a lot of the real details such as one of the biggest complaints among the soldiers stationed at camdish was that the base was located in a basin on the mountain instead of near the peak meaning there was tons of high ground for attackers to use to either Scout them out or take pot shots with good cover aren't we supposed to be on top of the mountain to win this thing don't be logical skuza which is exactly what happened though stuff like exactly when Keating died is muddied he actually died in 2006 while the film says it was 2009 also ramesha and Carter weren't there when the accident happened in fact it wasn't even the same unit Keating was part of the 371 Cav not the 361 which is the unit that was actually part of the battle also Keating wasn't alone in the truck there was a mechanic with him when he went over the cliff but thankfully he only had minor injuries so really Camp Keating was named after him before the events of the film he was already dead the movie also tried to say that Keating was attacked every single day in truth it was more like three or four times a week still a lot but it's not daily there was also some Shenanigans with how yeskas died but that's actually mostly accurate once again they changed the unit and date for the movie yeskas actually died a year earlier than the film 2008 and he was in the fourth Cavalry Regiment which is not the 61st they also changed the exact details of how yeskas died he was killed by an IED on a bridge yes but the film shows him falling into a river where he dies in truth it was substantially more graphic he was sent flying into Camp Keating right into the helicopter landing area and he was practically blown to Pieces Marine lieutenant Chris Briley tried to help since somehow the guy was actually still alive but he was literally falling apart when he was moved now Chris Briley isn't in the film as stated this focuses 100 on the Army the Marine presence is never addressed instead replaced by private first-class stories younger a character made up for the film I told you they did this multiple times though the PTSD element was real and that's something that actually happened to Briley if you think that's bad pretty much every soldier in the battle reported that The Afghani National Army either all fled in fear or outright gave their guns to Taliban fighters who got into the camp [ __ ] his heart and [ __ ] his mind so yeah their reputation is well deserved it appears so while there's definitely exaggerated details like the film saying the camp was attacked every day there's still a lot they do get right by the way if you want to know about an actual Outpost that got hit pretty much damn near daily look up camp Restrepo which has some documentaries made about it that are most certainly on the list they might even be coming sooner than you think shooting of some sort the thing possibly in fact this might have been the inspiration for the plot point in The Outpost now they think about it still no change feels disrespectful or absurdly Hollywood it could literally come down to they couldn't get in contact with some of the people that were involved in the incident the people involved didn't want to be in the movie and they had to simplify things simply due to money and time because how do you break down multiple years worth of build up to one battle for a two-hour movie it's pretty hard to do that yeah the key was they had to show the relationship each Commander had on the locals and how the tensions came to an absolute boil it also shows how woefully unprepared the base was for a large-scale attack to the point that it was almost stacked against the soldiers who were supposed to be occupying it a remark how nonsensical it is to put a base below a mountain instead of at the top hell there's a scene where Scott Eastwood's characters on patrol with his buddies and they spot a cliff that overlooks the camp a perfect spot to Recon their Outpost figure out the key locations the defenses even plan how to [ __ ] it and everything he describes is exactly what happens in the actual attack after the battle is said and done Camp Keating became the poster child to how ill-planned the strategies for the Afghanistan occupation really were and it caused a complete shake-up for various outposts and bases were completely restructured or shut down goes to show what happens if you cut Corners you know still The Outpost is a fantastic movie while it's not the most accurate war movie in terms of actual events it does more than enough to show the actual culture of the military and soldiers including everything from the funny and slow moments to when things break down and become a true life or death emergency I highly recommend you guys check out the movie it actually never got a theatrical release instead being released on video on demand simply because of kovid yeah I gotta love how the China bug [ __ ] a whole lot of stuff still it was supposed to appear at various film festivals right as the pandemic kicked off but it was able to be a success being the top rented film for iTunes Fandango now even Apple TV which is good since there's obvious quality in the filmmaking this isn't some cheap slasher flick that streaming services buy up by the palette the stuff their library is full of no this is downright one of the best war movies to come out in a very long time managing to balance shifting details for the sake of the plot with keeping a clear respect for the source material to call this a cult classic feels weird because this is a pretty popular movie so more of an underground hit I guess the people who know about it think it's fantastic but the circle isn't the biggest if you're interested in military films you've probably already heard of this but if you're just tipping your toes in the genre this is a great one to check out but that's all I can say about the Outpost it's fantastic and you will not regret sitting down and giving out a watch until next time please remember to like comment and subscribe see you guys [Music] hey loser do you want a shirt 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Channel: TheAlmightyLoli

Views: 78,491

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Id: VABHdgg9h5k

Length: 22min 49sec (1369 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 02 2023