Afghan Luke (2011)

Simply A Masterpiece

Absolutely Fantastic

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

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

In Afghanistan, Canadian journalist Luke, who also occasionally narrates the movie, is dressed like a woman would be under the Taliban. He is accompanied by a group of men, most of whom don't speak English, and Mateen, his "fixer", who translates and tells him what he needs to know.It is rumored that Americans cut off the fingers of certain people they kill. Luke believes he is seeing this happen but his camera gets shot and there goes the evidence.Back in Canada, Luke's newspaper won't run the story. But he is determined to go back and get his evidence, without the support of his paper. Actually, the way he behaved toward his editor Mark, he doesn't have a job.Luke's friend Tom, who looks like a hippie and has a sarcastic attitude, wants to go to Afghanistan too, and he gets his mother to finance the trip. Once back in Afghanistan, Luke claims to be working on a story about the drug industry--Afghanistan is a leading producer of heroin. Tom claims to be working on a documentary for CNN, and the beautiful girl he is interested in, an entertainer named Miss Freedom, believes him. Imran, who already knew Luke, works for The New York Times and he believes he has an edge over the others.The three journalists get sent with a group which includes Elita, an attractive woman from Latvia, who assists with communications. Mateen joins Luke once again, after some effort. They are going to visit his uncle, who has some knowledge of the situation. Tom poses as a record executive to meet with a big shot in a suit named Assad whose nephew is an aspiring rapper with no talent (to hear an actual rapper, wait for the closing credits). Ustad Mir is a cab driver who picks up some of the group when they get left behind.Tom and Luke get separated from Imran and the main group and experience the horrors of war and meet some interesting characters, such as the Brooklyn plumber who insists poor sanitation and water quality are killing more people than the war. Mateen, who is mostly comic relief, has a chance to be more than that when he experiences a tragedy.Is this movie worth seeing? It might be. It helps us to understand what our people are going through in a war that doesn't meet any of the traditional definitions. Mateen gives Luke an important quote which essentially means "There are no enemies. Only future allies." The reverse is also true.And the people are poor and have to do what it takes to get by. Someone is making billions from the drugs, but not these people, and they resent being told what to do by outsiders.This isn't a comedy, but for those who prefer comedy, there's just enough to make the movie tolerable. The quirky characters are enjoyable.It's not exactly family friendly, with numerous instances of the sound going out and a character's mouth blurred, middle fingers blurred (I assume), and the reality of war. For a movie about war, though, this is not that violent. I actually saw the fourth "Rambo" movie the day I saw this, and that was far worse.It's not a classic, but maybe if you like war, it's something worth seeing.

I know this is fiction, but if you're going to have a movie embedded within an historical context, at least attempt to make that context somewhat accurate, or at least believable to anyone with even a limited knowledge of the event/events. I had to turn this off after 15 minutes there were so many inaccuracies.The two things that did seem accurate.1. It looked like it could be Afghanistan. 2. His guide was getting high.Not accurate;1. Snipers are not in four-man teams firing from moving vehicles. 2. There are no tent-bars in Afghanistan, much less those with dancing white women. Alcohol is against the law, and while I am sure that alcohol is smuggled in, it's abuse is not flaunted because it is illegal. 3. What newspaper has ever suppressed a story that denigrates soldiers?Answer... none. The typical tact is to exaggerate every infraction and try to instigate it into some Muslim outrage and retaliation.

Let's welcome back the director of "Trailer Park Boys" Mike Clattenberg for what I believe is his second full length feature film and quiet a good one at that."Afghan Luke" stars a bunch of incredibly talented young actors/actresses my personal favorite of course Nick Stahl along with Stephen Lobo and Nicholas Wright. It's a drama that follows Luke Benning(Stahl) and the story he is attempting to write and prove about Canadian solider mutilating corpses in Afghanistan during the war. After initially being rejected Luke quits his paper to return to Afghanistan with his best friend Thom played by N.Wright where they attempt to gain proof of the story by heading across the country in search of the evidence.Well what can I say, I suppose I will start with the cinematography the film is shot beautifully I believe in parts of British Columbia but had such great authenticity and really made you feel part of the journey. The dialog was very cleverly written along with some great comedic timing, everyone owns there roles, I was surprised to find all the cast were either American's or Canadians and with a multitude of dialects and accents throughout the film it was performed successfully, Nick stole the show leading us down the road the film ultimately takes.On a limited budget a solid project raising questions and answers on war was carried out very well. Only thing missing was a good musical score which could have accompanied the film, and it was a little slow in it's build up. Warning alert to those easily offended there is a bit of drug use and plenty of heavy language throughout the film, but most is in context with the storytelling. If you are looking for a unique take on a journalistic point of view of the war this is much better then recent films "The Bang Bang Club" and "5 Days Of War" if your a fan of Nick like I am, it's one worth a viewing.

This is a wonderful little movie. Directed and produced by the same guys as the Trailer Park Boys this is a completely different type of movie. Great work with the muted colours and the dust and dirt of Afghanistan. I don't know how they were able to make BC look like Afghanistan but it is believable and convincing in the movie. It is a little predictable and contrived in parts but the characters are believable and I was hooked in from the very beginning of the movie. The ending however was strong and didn't cave to be a predictable Hollywood want-a-be ending. This movie was easy to watch, easy to understand but still had enough subsistence to allow for great conversations afterwards.