Review of 12 Strong (2018) by Richard S — 12 Aug 2018

12 Strong is about 12 American soldiers who went into Afghanistan soon after 9/11 to take back a Taliban strong hold in the hope of preventing any further attacks. Military advisers suggested this would take 2 years but in fact these men achieved their goal in collaboration with an Afghan warlord over the course of 2 weeks while being lead by a captain with no real combat experience which is quite an impressive feat. The film follows battle after battle as the soldiers slowly make it towards their goal which is interspersed with the American captain and the Afghan warlord learning to work together as they both had very different methods to achieve their military goals.

The film was fairly interesting and entertaining but they have obviously put a Hollywood tint on events and characters. It all looks a lot prettier than I'm guessing it was plus the Afghan warlord comes across as a good guy, a righteous man who eventually went onto become Vice President of Afghanistan. What the film doesn't mention is the fact this guy has been accused of murdering his own wife as well as torturing his enemies and in some cases his allies to achieve his goals .