Name: Payad, Alain Louise C.

University: Our Lady of Fatima University

Course/Section: BSA 1Y2-5
Tutor: Mr. Fern Acosta
Date: March 15, 2016

Reflection on the Movie Lone Survivor

Introduction
I watched Lone Survivor recently with a friend. Im a fan of war movies , so I figured
id probably enjoy this one. I was surprised at points at the depth of the films
narrative. Here, I will be commenting on the content on the film; not on the true
story itself or any side-stories that came off of it.

Plot
Marcus Luttrell, a Navy Seal, and his team set out on a mission to capture or kill
notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shah, in late June 2005. After running into mountain
herders and capturing them, they were left with no choice but to follow their rules of
engagement or be imprisoned. Now Marcus and his team are left to fight for their
lives in one of the most valiant efforts of modern warfare.

Cast
Mark Wahlberg

...

Marcus Luttrell

Taylor Kitsch

...

Michael Murphy

Emile Hirsch

...

Danny Dietz

Ben Foster ...

Matt 'Axe' Axelson

Yousuf Azami

...

Ali Suliman ...

Gulab

Eric Bana

Erik Kristensen

...

Alexander Ludwig
Rich Ting

...

Shah

... Shane Patton

James Suh

Dan Bilzerian

...

Healy

Jerry Ferrara

...

Hasslert

Early in the film, the SEALs encounter a situation which brings them to a trilemma:
local goat herders compromise their mission security. They are left with three
options: they may let the herders go and run for the hills themselves, knowing that
a huge number of hostiles will be pursuing them; they may tie the herders up,
hoping that they would be found before they died from local predators or cold; or
they could terminate the prisoners. The latter two would violate the rules of war, but
the soldiers themselves had little chance of surviving with the first option.
Their decision is eventually made after some tense debate; they free the prisoners
and flee to try to call for an extract. The SEALs clearly did the right thing in this
situation, not purely from a legal perspective but from an ethical perspective as
well. The murder of innocents to preserve ones own safety is not justified. However,
the situation also illustrated the intense complexity of the situation of such a war. It
also illustrated the very human emotional struggle we would go through in a similar
situation: how would you deal with the trilemma? Can you answer it honestly that
you would put your own life in extreme peril? Tough questions.
I was a bit worried that the film might serve to portray a simplistic good/bad guy
dichotomy in which anyone who looked remotely Arabic was painted as a villain and
everyone that moved was to be killed. That was not at all the case. Although it is
clear that the Taliban are the bad guys in this film, Marcus Luttrell, the lone
survivor, is ultimately saved by a local who was following Pashtun codes which
grant protection for those in need.
There is thus illustrated in the film a greater range of rightness and wrongness than
simply good/bad guy. Ancient customs may present a beautiful way to provide
succor for someone in need; even a possible enemy. The adherence to strict codes
for hospitality is something to which Christians should relate; one need only to read
the Bible to discover numerous commands to give relief to the foreigner in the land

of Israel or to take care of those in need. The situation in the movie is made
interesting because Luttrell was a combatant and it was truly dangerous to those
who would take him in to do so.
Christians have a wide variety of views when it comes to war. There are strong
traditions of pacifism and just war theory, with a spectrum of variances of these two
major positions along the way. I am not a political analyst, nor am I up-to-date on
the facts related to the war in Afghanistan. Thus, Im not going to try to comment on
the specifics of the war because I would betray ignorance. However, I do think it is
important to note that the film does depict some truly evil actions taken by the
Taliban in the beheading of a man simply because he may have spoken to the
Americans.
But does the issue of violence end there? Does that mean we should intervene?
After all, if Americans werent there to begin with, such violence (perhaps?) would
not happen, for there would be no Americans to inform. But I, again, want to
emphasize I dont know the whole story.

Conclusion
Lone Survivor is, unquestionably, a brutal film. There is much violence as well as
quite a bit of vulgar language. But amidst these things, the film managed to convey
a picture of the war in Afghanistan that was more than a simplistic black-and-white
picture. It poignantly portrayed the difficulties of ethical situations in war. It also
called into question the notion that there can be quick-and-easy lines drawn for
friend and foe. I recommend the film for adults.