Hyena Road (2016)

That was an excellent one.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The film does a good job depicting the fact that the war in Afghanistan is a multi-dimensional war, not simply a matter of coalition forces and Taliban fighting each other. There are numerous locus's of power fighting for their own interests in Afghanistan, who shift their alliances and manipulate each other for their own dominance. Touches on the disturbing topic of child trafficking. Some viewers may find the numerous subplots of the film confusing. Interesting humor devices. Brian Ghilliotti

This is an outstanding war film. As others have commented, it examines the Afghanistan conflict in a particularly Canadian way --- which means that each character has a distinct point of view and a unique place in the world. The film makes clear not only that each understands his/her situation differently, but also that each viewpoint merits the full weight of our attention and consideration. Both the nobility of sacrifice and the utter senselessness of war are captured. There have been many well-made recent films about our current conflict with the Islamic world. This is certainly one of the best of them.

One thing that makes "Hyena Road" excellent is that the film continues a cinematic and literary tradition of the Canadian ability to fight back, of intelligent opposition. In popular literature this goes back as far as Robert Service. In film it goes back to the (serious) Royal Mounties movies and to such Hollywood blockbusters as "The Wild North" (1952) and Stewart Grangers' character of Jules Vincent. Because Canada has become such an appendage to the USA in modern times we forget how outstanding the fighting ability of these people and their institutions can be. I do Not write this as a Canadian, mind you. But as an objective, non-Canadian who was very impressed by the combative intelligence and cross-cultural savvy of "Hyena Road". This is a sleeper. This is a keeper.

Hyena Road is a Canadian "US Sniper" style war flick. Its replete with the usual black and white "we are the good guys" simplistic nonsense, that conveniently overlooks the key question; why are Western forces present in a country like Afghanistan? What you get instead is a tale of good Canadian solders versus the bad old Afghani "insurgents". There's lots of tough guy swearing, apparently the more you say "fuck" the tougher you are or, at least, sound. The storyline is a loose affair that wanders around looking at the soldiers various engagements in the field. Its day in the life stuff and if you like military tales of this variety, you could do worse. The acting is reasonable and the characterizations, not too over the top. All in all a rather shallow watch, that fails, like so many in this genre, to ask the hard questions. Five out of ten from me.