Combat Obscura: Film Documents Life in Combat Zone
Chris Boggs ’21
Guest Writer
I originally became aware of Combat Obscura through the veteran community. There was a lot of excitement about the documentary because it promised to give an accurate depiction of what it was actually like to be a Marine in Afghanistan. Far too often, documentaries and films create a glamorized idea of being deployed in a combat zone. A part of the glamorization is the idea of the professionalism of the armed forces. This only goes to further the disconnect between what civilians think it is like being deployed and what it is actually like being deployed. I watched the documentary shortly after its release and thought it did a great job accurately depicting deployment to a combat zone, which includes a lot of unprofessional behavior by Marines.
It was after watching the documentary that I decided to reach out to Oscilloscope Laboratories, the production company, to arrange a screening and if possible, attendance by the director. As the only prior enlisted Marine at the Law School, I felt that this was something I could bring and not have it be construed as in any way political. Rather, I wanted people to get a raw and unfiltered look, and this documentary provides just that. The synopsis below shows what the film is about.
Synopsis
“Just out of high school, at the age of 18, Miles Lagoze enlisted in the Marine Corps. He was deployed to Afghanistan where he served as Combat Camera—his unit's official videographer, tasked with shooting and editing footage for the Corps’ recruiting purposes and historical initiatives. But upon discharging, Lagoze took all the footage he and his fellow cameramen shot, and he assembled quite simply the very documentary the Corps does not want you to see. COMBAT OBSCURA is a groundbreaking look at the daily life of Marines in a war zone as told by the soldiers themselves. More than a mere compilation of violence, the edit ingeniously repurposes the original footage to reveal the intensity and paradoxes of an ambiguous war from an unvarnished perspective.”[1]
Many people don’t like the way Marines are depicted in the film and claim this was not a reflection of the Marine Corps. I was deployed in Afghanistan from January 2011 to August 2011, and the experience I had was vastly similar to what is depicted in the film. In fact, 1st Battalion 6th Regiment, the unit Miles was with during the filming, was the unit that rotated into Afghanistan as my unit was rotating out. For these reasons, I am comfortable stating that this is in fact a reflection of Marines serving in combat during this era. Miles Lagoze describes his thought process below, and it is something I wholeheartedly agree with.
Filmmaker Statement:
“I came from a liberal background but decided to enlist in the Marines when I was 18 as a Combat Cameraman for reasons I still don't fully understand. I had always loved movies growing up, particularly the work of Stanley Kubrick, so part of me wanted to go to war while still having the alibi of being a neutral cameraman. As I soon realized though, the camera affects those it films and their actions, as well as the camera operator's, in more ways than can be imagined. While deployed, I filmed the war as a propaganda tool for the Marine Corps, showcasing different aspects of the military in the wholesome and sanitized manner that was approved by the Marines' public affairs apparatus. I couldn't show anyone cursing or smoking cigarettes during a firefight, and casualties were often forbidden from being exposed. As I was editing the events around me to fit the Marine Corps' message, I was also filming the harsh realities of the deployment, and providing an outlet for the young grunts I was attached with to express themselves in a way that their wives and families back home may not have understood, but that made perfect sense to them during deployment. When I got discharged from the military I kept all the footage that was never released, mostly because I hadn't gotten over the experience and wanted the memories to stay fresh, but also because I knew the rawness of what I had captured was important. The film is composed of the footage I kept, and although it doesn't encapsulate the war experience in its entirety (no film can), I want to show people a side of the conflict and our troops that isn't normally seen, in a way that they aren't accustomed to seeing it. Having worked on it for almost three years after getting out of the Marines, I hope to inspire a fresh dialogue about the war that is centered around honesty, rather than catered to one side of the political spectrum or the other.”[2]
To accomplish his goal, Lagoze created an unfiltered look at the war in Afghanistan. During the question and answer portion of the screening on Friday, he described his decision to show a United States casualty on film, which was a highly controversial decision. He stated, “If I was going to show dead Afghans, I had to be willing to show dead Americans. I wanted both sides to be seen as humans.” In fact, this was the first time a United States casualty was shown on film. This raw and unfiltered look can be difficult to watch at times. It should be remembered that if it is difficult for you to watch, can you imagine how difficult it was to live it?
I hope that as people watch the documentary, they gain a new understanding of what it really means to live and fight overseas for America while, at the same time, coming to realize that the men and women being sent overseas to fight are not the amazing professionals they are made out to be. I do not say this as a knock on our military, but rather to create a new understanding that the vast majority of them are immature eighteen to twenty year-olds. These young adults are put into an incredibly difficult situation with no clear direction. They deserve our appreciation for their sacrifices, but it must be remembered—they are far from the perfect professionals society has made them out to be.
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cmb5bx@virginia.edu
[1] Synopsis quote from Rotten Tomato at https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/combat_obscura.
[2] Film maker’s statement quoted from Miles Lagoze at http://thedocyard.com/2019/08/combat-obscura/.