Hyena Road: the movie

[rob love]

So just got in from Hyena road, which started showing in Brandon last Friday. Tonight was cheapo Tuesdays, so the wife and I headed out.

I read the reviews before, not that it mattered: I was going to see this movie. Seems like the critics are mixed, but the viewers liked it. I am with the viewers.

We had talked about this movie a bit in the Paschandale thread, but I thought it would be better to have it's own thread.

As could be expected in a community like this, half the people attending were military. There was a row of them who were somewhat boisterous when the movie started. By the end of the movie they were silent.

It is possible to pick apart the inconsistencies and one has to remember that as a Canadian production, they were not about to bring in RG32s, Mercedes Actros, or even Leos for the production. As a result, there was a lot more softskin, including more than a few shots of the rusty Shilo MLVWs. But overall the effect was there.

The only thing the movie needed was more dust. Too many green vehicles and white table tops.

The romance was kept reasonable, although the fraternization was perhaps a little too open for reality. As well, the ramp ceremony only had two ranks in two sections. The real ramp ceremonies had hundreds (pushing a thousand) of Cdn military, a couple hundred civilian (between cancap and PSP) along with a formation of other nationality officers, and a section of US military to cap off the parade. If there was a time that they should have paid for more extras, the ramp ceremony was it.

The WO always had a 2 day shadow, which also came across a little hokey. He was into KAF and the FOBs enough times to shave.

The camera tended to shake around a little too much in the action scenes, which was a little uncomfortable. But the plot was realistic, and the actors held their own. Except maybe where one of the actors has a little fit during an O group. That one might have been a little lacking.

It was kind of cool to point out where I lived to the wife during the ariel shots. They even had a good crane shot of the poo pond.

I guess the thing with this movie was that it hit home on several fronts. The sacrifice of the soldiers, and the craziness of it all. I personally would recommend it.

[Ed Storey]

I have seen Hyena Road as well, I went on the weekend with my Son and having endured Paul Gross’s earlier horrid motion picture Passchendaele, my expectations for this movie were not that high. From my perspective these suspensions were correct and I would not recommend this movie.

I thought that the best segments were those that Paul Gross had actually shot in theatre and it was interesting to see some familiar locations in KAF. As for the plot and story, I found it simplistic and boring and I could not identify with any of the characters and what I saw were a handful of Canadian actors playacting army. The movie was written by Paul Gross so the story and plot had all of his hallmark movie script 101 components such as; rogue main character, romantic subplot and overly emotional climax and ending which was interwoven with a storyline that was more fitting of a Due North episode. This movie would give the average person with no military experience the impression that when in Afghanistan, no-one shaved and that most people walked around with their hands in their pockets and their shirt sleeve buttons undone. Of course those who play act at being in the army have no idea about the formalities that are observed within the military. For example, besides the trait of constantly walking around with hands stuffed in pockets, there were scenes with ‘military’ personnel learning against furniture and walls during a meeting with the Task Force Commander and for some reason only known to the production crew, throughout the movie the Commander seemed to be calling his RSM by a nickname.

It was blatantly obvious that this motion picture was an amalgam of film footage taken in Afghanistan in 2010 as well as scenes shot in both Shilo and Jordan. It looked like DNDs contribution to the movie was no more than a handful of vehicles and a lone M777.

It is easy to say that this is low budget and Canadian which is in my opinion an overly employed poor excuse. For once again and just like the Passchendaele movie; had Mr Gross done some real research and in this case actually interviewed some Afghan Veterans, he could have woven and interesting and believable story producing a much better movie with the resources that he had at his disposal.

[rob love]

Ed
The majority of actors in all movies who play act at being in the army have no idea about the formalities that are observed within the military. Otherwise, they would be soldiers.

As the sentiment of watching the movie wears off, I have to agree with most of your points. Way too many "stand downs" being ordered on the air. One does not ordinarily see a lot of emotional conflict during voice procedures. And unfortunately the lesser budget of a Canadian movie will not allow them to be firing dozens of live M777 rounds downrange.

Even the wife noticed that the first two shots of M777 were relatively tame, while the third shot, which was done in Afghanistan, shook the whole ground and had the missing feature of the other shots with incredible amounts of dust.

But being Canadian, we will likely never see a Cdn version of "Fury" with the topic being Canada's involvement in the Afghanistan war. I am thinking that this is going to be about as good as it gets and gives the Canadian public a little taste of what it would have been like for our troops (although perhaps a little more condensed) in theater.

Things that were right were the plywood buildings, and the cases of water bottles everywhere (there should/could have been even more).

I also have to say the "ghost" looked a little too clean and healthy compared to the locals that I had ever dealt with. The father and son though seemed to fit my memory of some of the locals quite well, although perhaps a little too slick.

[Ed Storey]

Absolutely, actors are definitely a breed all their own, but this motion picture is not Shakespeare and a competent qualified military advisor could have gone a long way to sort out the cast; let alone the myriad list of inconsistencies. I could live with Gross playing the part of an bearded 'Intel Officer' - his words not mine; so I thought, okay perhaps he is portraying the Navy. No such luck, he is wearing his very QM new Army beret in the final scene....

Too bad this was another mediocre Canadian production with plenty of lost potential.

[Frank v R]

My two cents , I think that it was a good job, remember the CBC production for Dieppe, now that was bad, as for the actors , the days of actors having served is long gone, think of the post WW 2 films where there seemed to be no effort for many of them to play the roles they were given, a few, Robert Montgomery, David Niven, Walter Pidgeon and Raymond Massey who both trained in Pet for the first World War and Massey who also served during WW 2, we need to be happy that there are actors that want to and can tell the Canadian story. I don't know if any of you picked up on one individual at the end during the rescue of the kids, I do not think that was by accident ,

[Ed Storey]

Telling stories is one thing, telling fictitious crap is another. We have only been out of Afghanistan for less than five years, if this is what we can expect from our exalted movie industry to fabricate now, what will they be making up in 30 years?

I don't buy into the 'oh they are just actors', or 'we are not Hollywood' or 'at least we are doing something'; those in my opinion are simply cop outs. Why settle for and reward mediocre or perhaps everything we now accomplish is at the lowest level and that is the best we can expect? I don't think so, and more importantly the way in which average Canadian experiences two-hours of the mission in Afghanistan deserves better than what Paul Gross can dream up.

[rob love]

The movie going public is not going to pay to watch guys doing sentry or OP duties, nor sitting in a bunker for an hour and a half during rocket attacks. I am not sure you will be able to capture in a movie the apprehension that a soldier would have felt in the back of a LAV stopped somewhere. Guys I talked to say they never felt so helpless about their destiny in all their life.

As I said before, I agree with you that the story line might be a little far-fetched, but I can't see anything better coming any time soon. For me, it was worth the admission just to see some of the (limited) sights and sounds I experienced in KAF. I doubt I will ever have a chance to be there again.

[jdmcm]

Not a soldier, never been a soldier, never going to be a soldier...love to play with the toys but have none of the skills or fortitude of those who have and who do it for real...Went to see Hyena Road...came away with even more respect for the men and women who live that life for real every day...I have recommended this movie to all my friends and family..an I have no problem recommending it on here...

Does it satisfy the rivet counters like Ed? Nope...but nothing ever has and nothing ever will...I think it is important for people to understand this is a commercial movie designed to make money...why? Because that's why people make movies...ENTERTAINMENT...and if it happens to spur the occasional "oh yeah...Canadians were there too!" moment...then really can it be a bad thing? And say what you want about Paul Gross and his movie making ability...but he just kicked that Xenophobic nationalist weirdo Clint Eastwood right in the "b-lls". Hyena Road is the Godfather compared to that ridiculous and sloppy propaganda disaster "American Sniper"

[r.morrison]

Gentlemen: Having read the comments thus far, as a proud Canadian, I have to ask my fellow Canadians....when is the last time Canada made an "War Movie"? Passchendaele comes to mind as the last "Big One". Funny thing is....... the last 2 "Made In Canada" war movies were both by Paul Gross. A guy who got off his ass and went out and raised the money to fund these ventures, with historical content, and hopefully, as John says, make a profit. That's business! I remember Passchendaele when it was in it's infancy and it almost didn't come about because of funding, but in the end it did and a lot of businesses in British Columbia and Alberta benefited from it financially, as well as large percentage of Canadians....well...they just enjoyed the movie for what it was.
I have to agree with John on his comments (minus the Clint Eastwood stuff). It's very easy, as Canadians are guilty of doing....and that.... is self bashing!
We are all guilty of ripping other peoples projects apart, from vehicles to uniforms to movies. I have watched movies with both "actors" and military experts, who by the time the movie is done, have shredded it so bad.....might as well gone to the Legion and drank beer.

And like John, having never served, but also taking in Rob's comments of "being there"....a movie is what you enjoy of it.

Ask yourself this.....when's the last time you saw someone leave a negative comment or shred to pieces, on this forum, Clive's Books. Never! The man spends an enormous amount of time, money, research and interviewing, along with participants from this forum, to present to the world his findings on a piece of Canadian Military History. Simple as that! (My apologies Clive...)

Bottom line in my comment is "You have to give a man credit for trying rather than not trying at all!

My 3 cents.....Robert