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Military Documentaries - A war veteran film sheds damning light on how the Marines fought in Afghanistan "The Fight" is a masterful condemnation of the behavior of American soldiers, an excruciating lament for the loss of life in the war in Afghanistan.

"Combat Obscura" starts with explosions. After half a second, a large column of smoke appears in the distance, which quickly doubles and triples in size. But the scariest thing is what happens behind the camera. A man shouts in English as a cloud passes over the frame. "It's sacred," he says. "This is the wrong building!" Another explosion is heard and a fireball erupts. "Damn it!" will he call again? he is now happy, fascinated. - Yes, my son! he shouts.

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In "Combat Obscura," a new documentary set in Afghanistan, the Marines don't do what they usually do in American war documentaries—they don't talk about God and country, kill the bad guys, and win hearts and minds. . In Combat Obscura, Marines shoot guns and stand guard, but they also assault women, point their guns at children, die needlessly and with dignity, kill innocent people, and cover it up. At one point in the film, a Marine points his gun at donkey kids. "Where are the damn Taliban? Where are the Taliban? he screams in their faces. They look back in fear and confusion. Marin gives one of the boys a chocolate bar, but it's not kindness.

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Principal Miles Lagoze, 29, joined the Marines right out of high school and quickly deployed to Afghanistan. His job in the Corps is what is known as a combat videographer, a role that involves recording footage of Marines for operational use on the battlefield and for public relations at home. "Combat Obscura," released March 15 with Oscillographic Labs, consists almost entirely of footage Lagoze and fellow combat videographer Justin Loya shot for the corps. The film is a masterful 110-minute long condemnation of the behavior of American soldiers and an excruciating lament for the needless loss of life as a result of the US war in Afghanistan.

The Intercept spoke with Lagose about his reasons for making the documentary, the legal process that preceded the film's release and his feelings about his involvement in the war. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What made you join the navy at the age of 18?

I guess I was kind of ineffective. I had this preconceived notion that going to war would give me a perspective on life that I didn't have anywhere else. And I always wanted to cover the war as a journalist. I wanted to go to grad school and stuff. When I was a kid, I was a big movie buff, and I saw Full Metal Jacket many times, and I was like, "Oh, you can join the Marine Corps, they'll give you a camera and you'll just film for the military."

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I think the military offered this easy and direct route elsewhere. Many people think that the army is made up of patriotic guys - guys who just want to serve their country. But there are many children who are just left out.

In 2011, we were in the Sangin-Kajachki region of Afghanistan. And we didn't know it then, because when you go to these places, they don't tell you anything, but there is a dam in Kajachi. It mainly supplies the entire Helmand region with electricity. The third turbine was missing. It was heavily occupied by the Taliban. We had to clear the road there to build the dam. The dam is still broken. I guess it's kind of a metaphor for the whole war.

The combat camera is a public relations tool for the military. In 2011, when I was there, we had to leave Afghanistan and hand it over to the Afghan army, the Afghan people. My job was to document these images: Marines working with the Afghan army, giving candy to children - hearts and minds. In the big three, no cursing, no shooting with the guys, smoking and having to be in full gear. And then there is no loss. It was a big thing, not a lot of blood. Since it was supposed to be over, we went out. That was eight years ago. And we are still there.

It should be a poem. We want to give people the experience of war, its uncertainties and paradoxes. And it's kind of a meditation on what it's like to be a soldier, how pointless this war is - not even defining what the outcome will be, what victory will be, or anything really. And just a waste of life.

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It's really all I can do. That's all I hope for. I don't want people to come up with some kind of answer to the quarrel. I think when you see political documentaries about it, you get this kind of closure, in the sense that, well, it's all about camaraderie, or it's all about the guys and being there for each other. And man, when they come back, they're going to be pretty crazy. No. I really want to offend people and leave them at this point.

It makes me think about the story choices you made that it's some kind of "Where is he now?" interviews, and no sound. Why did you not use such devices?

Yes, people always want that. I'll tell you: A lot of the [marines in the movie] are in jail. Some of them work well and some do not. And some of them are dead. Some of them committed suicide.

But this whole myth of the trauma hero of American war narratives - I didn't want to do that. Every American war story revolves around, Johnny has this naive idea of ​​war and he goes through and what he didn't expect, and it's total chaos and horror, and then he comes back and he finds a way to express does not have how was it When I first started making the film, I interviewed many of the children who were in the film. When I started to get rid of it, I think it was more honest then.

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I want people to ask them questions. Not just sympathy, but questioning and looking at who we were sending to fight these wars. I mean, it's an all-volunteer army. It's not like we were drafted into the army. We all grew up watching Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now, Platoon. Those are the anti-war movies that I think influenced a lot of us because we have this radical idea of ​​war and trauma and going to war and you learn something by going to war. And it takes away the real reason we are there.

What was it like when you brought out the camera when the Marines were smoking weed? Was there resistance to this?

Many of the guys in the movie were on different missions and left the army. They were done with the Marine Corps. they hated the Marine Corps. [Some] of them had gotten a DUI and got into trouble. They were tired of it. And they were coming out after a couple of months, so some people didn't care at all and wanted me to make a film.

And then the other guys were like, "whoa, whoa, what are you doing?" But as a Marine, you can just say, "Oh, shit," and do it. And you can see some kids in the movie - they want to rap, they want to be on camera. I wasn't going to show it to the commander, so they didn't bother.

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Another theme in the documentary is masculinity. Can you talk a little bit about that and how your perception has changed since you were in Afghanistan?

It would be really interesting to see what the Marine Corps is like now with women in combat roles because when we were there they weren't allowed in the infantry. They could serve other purposes, but not in active combat. So the Marine Corps I knew was very toxic. Even boot camp. Exercise instructors will literally tell you that your girlfriend is a whore and is now cheating on you. Therefore, from the beginning, they had this innate hatred towards women.

It is hard to imagine what war would be like without toxic masculinity in the training process. Because you're trained to kill people and not think about it and actually be excited to go.

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