Lesson 97: 12 Strong – Emailing It In

The Filmlosophers, Eddie Villanueva, Chad Riley and Spencer Williams examine the previously classified records of the so-called “horse soldiers” who fought alongside local militias against the Taliban during the months following September 11th, 2001, with this week’s review of 12 Strong (2018). Directed by Nicolai Fuglsig, the film stars Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Peña, Navid Negahban, William Fichtner, Rob Riggle and many others.

As depicted in the film, the Green Berets selected for this mission were dropped deep behind enemy lines near strategic, Taliban-controlled villages and tasked with calling in air strikes to support the local militias’ efforts to destabilize Al Qaeda’s control over a highly contested region, culminating in the hoped-for liberation of Mazar-i-Sharif, the fourth-largest city in Afghanistan. The mission, which many expected to take months or even years, needed to be completed within three to six weeks.

Be sure to check out Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018), which debuts this weekend! Also making its wide release debut are the award-buzzing films I, Tonya (2017), Phantom Thread (2017), and Call Me By Your Name (2017).