Great war film but only for those with nerves of steel

Kajaki
(16)

Afghanistan, 2006. An infinity of rock and clay, broken only by dirt roads and bantering British soldiers in a sandbagged base overlooking a petrol station where the Taliban are engaged in activities that may or not be worrisome.

The soldiers are cheery despite their soulless surroundings. As messages from home arrive, they talk about the things most other young men might be expected to talk about. A blistering sun, meanwhile, beats down on their tattooed bodies.

But soon afterwards, while out on a routine reconnaissance over a dried-out river bed, one of them steps on a landmine left by the Russian occupation of 25 years before. He has his leg blown off. Then a similar fate befalls another one. And another…

For 90 minutes or so, we watch the mine victims writhing in agony as they wait for a helicopter to airlift them to a hospital.

Their colleagues risk life and limb to tend to them with morphine, tourniquets, water. Everything is in short supply. Will they last until the helicopter arrives?

If you thought The Hurt Locker was strong beer, it tames in comparison to this. A jaw-droppingly graphic depiction of the near-insufferable pain inflicted by this most brutal (and cowardly) form of warfare, it contains the kind of images one might only expect to see as a trainee doctor assisting at open heart surgery.

Director Paul Katis doesn’t pull his punches. He makes us feel we’re there on that chalky landscape amidst those life-affirming paramilitaries.

Laugh and cry

We laugh and cry with them, we wince at their howls of pain, we shake our heads at their cheeky camaraderie and gallows humour.  (“Peel me a grape,” says one of the soldiers to his friend after he’s been blown to smithereens.)

I can’t recommend this film highly enough but such a recommendation comes with a huge caveat: don’t put yourself through such an endurance test if you’re any way squeamish about blood or dismemberment. This is relentless and unexpurgated.

Kajaki is based on fact.  Most of it takes place in a radius not much wider than 20 yards.  

This is the battleground but we don’t see any enemy. We just know that any wayward footstep can cause further dismemberment

Out of such tension and fear the film weaves its curious appeal, the appeal almost of a documentary. It’s unbearable at times but also compulsive.

Approach with extreme caution.