Warfare

An extraordinary depiction of an unfortunately commonplace event, this tale from the Iraq War underscores the chaos of battle -- and the everyday heroism of those caught up in it.

“Look for the blood and the smoke… we’re there.”

“Warfare” is one of those movies that some people will struggle and steam to figure out what it’s really about. They see a straightforward depiction of a commonplace battle during the Iraq War and feel compelled to put their own spin on the movie’s motivations, no doubt fertilized by their own political biases and experiences.

Many made a similar mistake with Alex Garland’s last film, “Civil War,” which vexed some because of its portrait of a fractured America with no clear good and bad guys. Garland co-directed and wrote this one with Ray Mendoza, who previously worked on the History Channel series “The Warfighters” examining the exploits of U.S. special forces military.

The story is based on Mendoza’s own real-life experiences in Iraq as a young communications specialist. Based, as a title card pledges, only the memories of those who were present, the move thrums with the vitality of undeniable authenticity.

“Warfare” is exactly what it seems: an unadorned depiction of a deadly encounter in Ramadi in November 2006, told with visceral energy and verve. In 90 minutes or so, you’ll see a Navy Seal team set up in a house to surveil insurgent forces nearby, and then they get chewed up and surrounded.

Like “Black Hawk Down” and similar films, “Warfare” is hyper-realistic depiction of the chaos of battle, and a tribute to the everyday heroism of those caught up in it.

I did not serve in the military — the first male Lloyd not to do so going back to the mid-1800s, if you can believe it — so I won’t attempt to substitute my judgment about the morals of war for those who have been in it. I will say the tactics of these American fighters is puzzling to me.

Basically, they break into the house of some random Iraqi family, hold them at gunpoint, and then wait for the enemy to start shooting at them. Then they call in their powerful array of assistance — from surveillance drones to jet fly-bys to tank rescue teams — to get them out.

Almost from the minute they’re set up in the house, the soldiers realize the insurgents have got them clocked. They watch the enemy watching them, noting how they try to look like they’re not looking. “Peekers” is the radio lingo they use for Iraqis poking their heads around corners or gazing through windows to assess what level of threat they pose before commencing their attack.

Soon grenades are being tossed into their house and machine gun fire patters the walls. When they try to extract with the assistance of some Bradley armored vehicles, the team is rocked by an explosion that leaves some dead and others seriously wounded.

The rest of the movie plays out in real time as they struggle to reassemble into a cohesive unit, call for help, keep their guys from bleeding out and somehow, someway — get out of this hell alive.

There are dozens of characters but no one is central or more important. You’ll probably recognize a few of the actors, but most of them you won’t. They yell out each other’s names in the heat of battle, like Sam and Tommy and Elliot, but honestly the faces and identities soon blend into each other, an everyman gallery. This is intentional.

Will Poulter is the officer in charge, not much older than the rest of these guys who seem barely a few years removed from high school. Early on he gets his bell rung by an explosion — aka suffers a severe concussion — and struggles to command his group.

D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai plays Mendoza as a youngster — a smart, collected guy who like the others soon finds himself in way over his head. Joseph Quinn is the second-in-charge, and one of those who nearly has whole parts of his body blasted off. Charles Melton is the leader of the rescue force, who soon find themselves just as pinned down as the rescuees.

Honest war movies show that no matter how well trained or prepared soldiers are, as soon as the shooting starts any plan you have is the first casualty. These guys know their stuff, follow the book, act as one fighting unit — like how they each put a hand on the shoulder of the man in front of them while running through smoke-filled areas, a human chain of survival.

But their calm collect soon gives way to shrieks of pain, contradictory instructions and freeze-ups. They’re making it up as they go along, and doing as good a job of it as can be expected, though it seems clear it’s only a matter of time before they’re overrun and slaughtered.

We also see the improvisation that happens on the battlefield, good and bad. One SEAL trying to haul an unconscious comrade to safety is flummoxed when the tattered remains of the guy’s leg get hung up on a pillar. Another soldier everyone assumed was dead suddenly wakes and starts his own howls of pain, interrupted by trying to give medical advice to the others on how they can save him.

At one point denied rescue tanks simply because the battalion commander is somewhere else, an officer instructs his radio guy to imitate the superior officer on the airwaves so the help will start rolling now. Insubordination, you may say? We wouldn’t be watching this movie without it, because no one would be alive to tell the tale.

I think what makes “Warfare” such a gripping piece of cinema is its depiction of what is, in the end, a pretty unremarkable event in the Iraq conflict. There are probably thousands of such scenarios that could be recounted, if only one of the survivors turned out to be a filmmaker.

You could say the same for any war of the last century. And that’s the truest, sobering lesson.