Three films about…Iraq and Afghanistan: Mosul (2019), 12 Strong (2018) and Lone Survivor (2013)

Why am I writing about these movies now?

Well, I’m moving my back catalogue of movie (and occasionally TV) reviews from another site to Medium — covering many of the best-known releases of the last decade, as well as more obscure fare. To make it a bit more fun, I’ll be grouping them thematically (as here), but unless I spot actual errors I’m not doing any editing…so my opinion may have changed since I first wrote them!

My reviews of new cinema, streaming and disc releases, as well as retrospectives on old (and not-so-old) classics, will mostly continue to appear on the Medium publication Frame Rated.

Anyway, here goes. Enjoy…

Mosul

Mosul is so documentarian in feel (wavering handheld camera, tight and unposed framing mixed just occasionally with overhead vistas of the ruined Iraqi city) that it comes as something of a surprise — even a disappointment — to learn that it is drama, albeit based on a factual New Yorker article.

The “Mosul” we see is in fact Marrakesh in the directorial debut of Matthew Michael Carnahan, previously known as a writer for films such as Dark Waters, 21 Bridges and World War Z, and the majority of the main offscreen personnel are…