Warning — there are spoilers for the film The Covenant in this article.
I have to admit that I’m not usually a fan of war or war adjacent movies. Most of the time, it’s because the politics and government talk bores me to death and holds zero interest for me. However, I do often love the stories that have a rogue agent trying to uncover something or escape from someone.
I digress.
The reason I bring this up is because I went into watching The Covenant with prejudice. Not only did it seem to be a straight up war movie… it features Jake Gyllenhaal who is a touchy actor for a Swiftie. But I will give credit where credit is due. Guy Ritchie created a deeply touching film with The Covenant.
The Trauma Line
This film is extremely unsettling and uncomfortable. It brings up issues that many of us have never had to think about or confront. It’s a film that tells you: “Once you know, you know. And you can’t unknow.” And we’ll get into that.
But let’s talk about the fact that war on it’s own is inherently traumatic. In the first couple minutes of this film we watch a bomb explode and the main character, John Kinley, loses his Afghan interpreter in the explosion.
There’s no moment of grief. No acknowledgement that someone risked their life for the good of the others. Nothing happens other than John Kinley going to base and asking for a new interpreter.
Maybe this was intentional — this admission that soldiers who operate in missions like Kinley’s are used to the violence. They are used to “losing people.” Can you imagine doing a job in which one of the requirements is to be desensitized to murder and death?
It’s no wonder our vets come back from service with PTSD and a variety of other mental health issues.
I’m pleased that Guy Ritchie decided to give Ahmed more agency and autonomy in this film. It makes the entire story feel realistic. It also gives us an inside look at why so many Afghans wanted to help the U.S. In a review of the film by the New York Times1 they mention the emotions that come up with this reality:
Here, Ritchie is not just earnest — he’s morally outraged about the broken promises made to thousands of Afghans who believed they’d earned Special Immigrant Visas only to be abandoned to fend for themselves. For all its clichés, this furious and discomfiting film tugs on your conscience for days, making a powerful case to turn the American public’s attention back to a conflict it would rather forget.
This sets the tone for the rest of the film, which is, in all honesty, bleak.
After an ambush that takes the life of almost every squad member of John Kinley’s, he and his interpreter, Ahmed, barely escape. John is in bad shape, near death. But it’s at this point that the narrative changes.
We watch Ahmed risk everything (literally) to save John Kinley and bring him back to his base. There’s not a discussion or conversation about it. There’s no hesitation or doubt. He treks through the dessert carrying John on a cart, pulling him through rough terrain, extreme weather, and dangerous landscape all the while needing to stay hidden from the Taliban. There’s one scene in this montage of Ahmed and John’s trek when he’s trying to push the cart (and subsequently John) up a hill and it’s not working. Ahmed is exhausted, worn down, and emotionally spent. He sits down and stares out in the barren land and cries.
It was then that I cried, too.
Ahmed’s dedication to saving John takes the slogan, “Leave no man behind” to a new level and it’s no wonder that after Ahmed successfully reunites John with the U.S. forces, he becomes both a hero and a target.
John, back in California and on the mend is a haunted man. He’s also a determined man.
At one point he says,
“As if it wasn't enough for him to carry me across those mountains, now I can't get him out of my fucking head. I’m lying in this bed. I kiss my children before they go to school. And he's hiding in a hole somewhere. A hole he can never get out of. A hole that we put him in. And that wasn't the deal. The deal was that we offered his family sanctuary. Then we tied a noose around his neck, and we kicked the stool out from under him. I should be in that hole.”
I found his determination to honor his word and also repay his debts to be admirable. I’m glad the decision was made to make Kinley steadfast in his resolution to get those visas to Ahmed and his family and get them out of harms way.
This doesn’t come without challenges though. It’s also part of the film that disgusts me. All the red tape and phone calls and promises made and ignored…
Gyllenhaal’s frustration, anger, and condemnation for the bureaucracy is palpable and resonate. And because this is a movie and not real life, what does John Kinley do?
He decides to get Ahmed and his family out of the country himself… even if it means losing his life.
His monologue in the office with his Sergeant is a perfect example of the value system John Kinley holds tightly to. I believe it’s the same one Ahmed held to as he pulled and pushed John across the vast and treacherous landscape.
“I am going to get that man and his family out of the position that we put him in. And of that, I have no doubt. And you're going to help me, Colonel. The reason that I am here, I saved your life eight years ago. So you're going to get those visas. I don't know how. But you're going to get them. Because I know you are the type of man that pays his debts. Pay your debts.”
It really is as simple as that, I think. Pay your debts. Do what you say you’re going to do.
But the U.S. is not John Kinley and unfortunately, it feels as if we have no one who cares enough to pay our debts in a humane way.
The rest of the film follows a predictable path — John Kinley finally gets on a plane to extract Ahmed and his family, himself. He has a private contractor company at the ready but even they have failed to “honor” their word to which John has choice words for. Ultimately, both John and the contractors follow through on their promises to get Ahmed and his family out of the country, visas in hand.
The Storytelling
One thing I appreciated about this film was the straightforward storytelling approach. Unlike other war narratives that tend to twist and wind the story through other character’s roles, The Covenant is pretty much a steady straight shot. And it works really well. In fact, the character development outside of our two main characters is sparse… something I would normally call out. But in this instance, it works because we get to focus on John Kinley and Ahmed which adds layers of depth to the action scenes.
The cause and effect technique is used here and I think the simplicity of that is what helps the film stay the course instead of being convoluted. We can really boil it down to a simple 3-Act Structure:
Act 1: Protagonists meet, inciting incident occurs
Act 2: The protagonists must deal with the consequences of the inciting incident and then ramp up for the climax
Act 3: The protagonists decide on a course of action that leads to the climax and then they either win or lose at the end
This is over-simplifying it but you get the point. It’s not a complicated plot. And that is a GOOD thing. It’s allows us to focus more heavily on the actions and behaviors of the two main characters.
It feels odd to admit how much I enjoyed this movie given that I’m not a “war movie” person. Perhaps because it didn’t so much feel like a “war” movie as much as it did a “character study” of these two men who also happened to be involved in the war. To me, the questions and awareness raised by the film are the most important thing.
Why didn’t we keep our promise of giving visas to those who helped us in a time of need?
How do we “repay” those who risk and give their lives to save us, when we are the ones who create the atmosphere to begin with?
How are veterans treated upon their re-entry into civilization?
These are just a few of them, but if you watch the film, you’ll find that it’s ripe for questioning and discussion.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/20/movies/guy-ritchies-the-covenant-review.html
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