The Covenant: A Review

 

Guy Ritchie's The Covenant Tells the Real Story of Duty and Reciprocity

The Covenant is straightforward. Two soldiers depending on each other to stay alive. One is wounded and near death, the other is in hiding from the Taliban. It’s easy to forget that this is a Guy Ritchie movie. The lack of stylistic violence and criminal syndicates was noticeably absent. His movies (I haven’t seen all of them) are known for fast sequences and colorful characters. Certainly, the warfare was intense but even Ritchie understands the seriousness inherent in combat. Slapstick violence would send the wrong message. 

It’s a lesson about survival and dependence but ends up being a sad commentary on America’s fickle commitment to her most susceptible allies. This is under the surface but still visible. 

Story Line

Sgt. John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) runs a task force of American soldiers that looks for IED (Improvised Explosive Device) factories around Afghanistan. They operate on intelligence that’s a bit shaky most of the time. They rely heavily on interpreters whose loyalties are often in question. An early sequence in the movie shows how the crew lost its first interpreter. On a quest to replace him, Kinley meets Ahmed (Dar Salim) and quizzes him on why he wants the job. Ahmed isn’t trusted by a lot of other soldiers because he goes off script and takes big risks. Kinley takes a chance on him and despite a rough start, the crew starts to trust him. He saves their lives on one occasion by sniffing out an ambush.

It's clear that Ahmed needs visas for himself and his pregnant wife. His “traitorous” behavior in working for the Americans has made him a target for the Taliban. He was promised a visa at one time. It’s part of the deal with working with the Americans. He seems reluctant to trust anyone completely. This is examined in more detail.

Two Visions

The film is really two things. The first half is a traditional war film, a survival tale of escape and evasion. The second half is a war with the State Department’s bureaucracy and its impossibly large net. 

Kinley and his skilled group hit paydirt when they encounter a quarry that turns out to be an IED factory. They don’t realize how valuable the find at first. They call in air support and shoot up the place before the gunships arrive. But the Taliban managed to call backup of their own. In a matter of minutes the place is overrun with enemies, everyone but Kinley and Ahmed die in the gunfire. They make a desperate run for the open country and hide in caves, sleep in valleys and hustle to the nearest American air base. Kinley is wounded in the escape and nearly dies. Ahmed performs a superhuman feat by keeping him alive through rugged terrain with Taliban looking for them. He is both resourceful and determined to keep the soldier alive.

The second part of the movie is the frustrating effort by Sgt Kinley, now out of the Army, to get Ahmed and his family out. Ritchie uses similar emotional, imagery to emphasize the struggle faced by both men in attempting to complete their mission. For Kinley though it’s the agonizingly slow bureaucratic visa process that creates anxiety. Just like the stressful montages of Ahmed pushing a wooden cart up a mountain, are the images of a drunken Kinley threatening the State Department officials and generally losing his mind. Both men work for the other. One faces gunfire while the other an indifferent machine, designed to evade and confuse. Both men work within their unspoken covenant. But Ahmed’s race across the country was always with hopes of his visa promise, less so than his obligation to Kinley. Kinley’s obligation is to Ahmed because the man literally saved his life and risked his own on multiple occasions.

The Backstory (Spoilers)

Guy Ritchie keeps the focus on the two men and their respective missions. Both men’s wives and children are set pieces that the main characters interact with. We don’t see their concern as their husbands go missing or witness their emotional breakdowns. For a lot of films this would be a shortcoming, but deep character studies outside the main thread can interfere with the story. We know both men have families they care for. That’s enough for this movie.

I’m sure Ritchie intended for this to be a statement on unfulfilled obligations by the American government to the people who helped them in Afghanistan. I thought a clearer statement would be to have the family of Ahmed shot in front of him as the credits roll. It’s awful but probably more realistic. That’s what happened in the summer of 2021. We all remember those sad images of C130s lifting off as Afghans chased them down the runway hoping to escape the coming slaughter.

But I also remember stories of American citizens flying into the country to get people out. I attended a talk by a Force Recon Marine (Chad Robichaux) about his rescue efforts since leaving Afghanistan. Needless to say, there were a lot of organizations going back into a much more dangerous country and getting people out. A lot of them were interpreters, carelessly left behind. Private groups succeeded where the government failed. That’s usually the way it works. The ending of the film fits, because it’s a story about relationships and commitment to cause. I was sure this was a true story because so much of it rings true. It's not, but you'll understand why by the end.