Kilo Two Bravo

Cafe Society
1

I found this movie (AKA Kajaki) because one of the actors had a bit part in Outlander. My husband and I watched it on Netflix last night.

It’s a British film about soldiers in Afghanistan who find a riverbed full of landmines the hard way. Quite brutal and well done. It’s one of those movies you watch once and then have to gear yourself up to watch again, like Saving Private Ryan or Schindler’s List.

I had to get the constant profanity, but I guess that’s the norm with soldiers. The first part is a bit slow, but once they get to the riverbed things ramp up quickly and horrifically. We had to put on captions because of the thick accents and the British slang/references, which went right over our heads (although I did catch the reference to Fred West). The other thing that struck me was there was no music until the end credits. I’m used to hearing thematic music during a movie and I quickly noticed this movie didn’t have that.

It’s based on a true story. It has 100% at Rotten Tomatoes. I understand the US Marines use it as a training film.

Anyone seen this movie? I don’t think it had a wide release in the US and I can’t tell how it did in the UK and Europe.

2

It didn’t get much of a release even in the UK, which is a shame because it’s an excellent movie. I only heard about it through word-of-mouth when it popped up on Netflix.

3

That is a shame. I wonder why it didn’t get a wider release?

4

Small budget, first-time director. The director did get nominated for a BAFTA though, so it wasn’t completely ignored. Hopefully it grows in reputation via Netflix etc, because some of it is by god skin-crawlingly intense.

Another film I found on Netflix that you might like is The Siege of Jadotville, about Irish soldiers on a UN peacekeeping mission in the Congo. It’s also a true story, and also a movie that’s kinda flew under the radar.

5

I will check it out. Jadotville got some press though, as Netlfix bought the rights and plasters their logo on it.

An older minefield movie is the Bosnian No Man’s Land (Ničija zemlja). A very haunting film.

6

Kilo Two Bravo did win an a British Independent Film Award for Best Achievement in Production. For a small budget film they did an amazing job. I would never have known. I hope it picks up buzz.

I’ll check out the other films, but I need a few days to decompress from this one.