The new movie “Lone Survivor” directed by Peter Berg, is based off of the book “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Red Wings and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10” written by Marcus Luttrell and Peter Berg.

The first scenes of the movie show real life footage of Navy SEAL training. It focuses on the physically and mentally taxing acts the men have to endure and how they push past their limits until they prove to themselves they can achieve the unthinkable. This mentality is maintained throughout the entire movie.

Actors Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, and Ben Foster star as the four man SEAL team on a mission to Afghanistan to take out the dangerous Al Qaeda leader, Ahmad Shahd. Their mission turns fatal after an encounter with a couple of goatherds where the SEALs choose to show mercy and are ultimately forced to fight an entire Taliban army.

The movie transitions into a series of gruesome fight scenes where the SEALs are forced to throw themselves off cliffs, fight with multiple gunshot wounds, and commit heroic acts of self sacrifice. The men fight bravely and valiantly, but only one survives as the title implies; Marcus Luttrell (Wahlberg). He is ultimately saved by Mohammed Gulab a villager who lives by the 2,000 year old code of honor “Pashtunwali” which offers protection to anyone who needs it.

The film closes with pictures and videos of the actual men who died during Operation Red Wings, leaving a lasting emotional impact on the audience.

People holding liberal beliefs accuse this film of being pro-war propaganda, or a recruitment device, claiming it glorifies war and seems to promote the view of Americans being the good guys, and the brown men being the bad ones.

However this view is unfounded as the movie shows two sides to the people living in Afghanistan. There are the evil men of Al Qaeda who play the main villains of the movie, but there is also Mohammed Gulab and his village who play the savior. They are fighting their own battle against the evil that surrounds their world and offer protection to anyone who is in need of it, even if it puts themselves at risk.

Politics was not the reason this movie was made. It is a shameful thing when a country is criticized for creating a movie that honors the noble, courageous acts of our troops and the message gets twisted. It is even worse when the criticism is coming from people who have no real knowledge of what fighting in the military is like, but yet feel they have the power to undermine and belittle the brave men who do.

This book and film serve as a tribute to the men who died fighting for our country in Operation Red Wings and the men and women who continue to serve our country. They deserve to be honored, not criticized by the American people. Without them, we wouldn’t live in the safety that we are so fortunate to have.

Add a blurb about Project Marine Care and how kids can donate supplies to this organization to help support our troops!