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Guy Ritchie, the bombastic filmmaker of “Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant,” a large, explosive war movie set in Afghanistan, almost forgets that his name is connected to the title. Instead, the film more closely resembles the second half of its awkward title; it begins as a reflective account of a tough American Sergeant named John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his observant Afghan translator Ahmed (Dar Salim) who live each day under a secret understanding. Ahmed will receive visas to the United States through his work, putting him and his wife (Fariba Sheikhan) and child in serious danger of Taliban reprisal. The most effective form for “The Covenant” is as a subdued, taut character drama that examines America’s numerous broken promises to the Middle Eastern nation and its citizens.
“The Covenant” would be one of the most truthful depictions of the nation’s involvement in the region if it were merely an examination of the hollowness of American exceptionalism, as its first hour suggests. However, Ritchie eventually snaps out of it, taking this martial arts action movie into wacky territory.
In “The Covenant,” the perils that loom over everyone concerned are instantly vividly depicted. For instance, in the first scene, Kinley and his men—a group that specializes in finding bombs or WMDs—are performing roadside inspections. Their translator attempts to get an Afghan truck driver to open his payload, only for a bomb to be detonated, murdering the translator and two other soldiers. The audience might be surprised to hear Ahmed’s brusqueness when he shows up to fill the position; the work is nothing more to him than a salary. Later on, we learn that Ahmed is more committed than he initially appears to be to overthrowing the Taliban.
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The script by Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson, and Marn Davies is particularly intriguing because of its stoicism. Because even though Kinley appears to be the focus of director of photography Ed Wild’s camera, Ahmed actually has his attention. Ahmed exhibits intelligence and a keen awareness of his surroundings, from knowing the local drug trade to being able to recognize when someone is lying right away. He doesn’t hesitate to speak up or deviate from the plan, as evidenced by his willingness to bargain with an informant or point out Kinley’s flaws without amusement. Salim completely understands how his broad build plays to the camera; how these troops perceive him as a threat and frequently fail to acknowledge his presence despite the fact that he is there to assist them. Additionally, Sadim exhibits a level of intelligence that contrasts with the brutish, gut-check soldier depicted in other war movies.
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But when Ritchie switches his attention from Salim to Gyllenhaal, cracks start to appear. The specter of the unequal connection Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis shared in “The Defiant Ones” rears its ugly head when Ahmed and Kinley are forced to struggle through the Afghan wilderness to return to base. Will this alliance lead Kinley to finally recognize the fundamental humanity of Ahmed? While Kinley does not completely ignore Ahmed’s presence, Curtis does with Poitier. Gyllenhaal’s psychologically strong performance suggests that he respects and even has some trust for Ahmed. However, it is clear that there is a personal divide outside of the war’s operational environment. Ahmed is tied to Kinsely not only out of loyalty (and really, not even out of friendship), but also an undeserved honoring of the camaraderie shared by soldiers in combat, whereas Kinley would prefer not to know anything about the other soldiers under his care, making their flight toward freedom through the wilderness an unequal arrangement.
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From there, “The Covenant” rapidly deviates from its original course as it moves closer to resembling earlier Ritchie films like “Wrath of Man” or “The Gentlemen.” Kinley has hysterical fever dreams that are sped up and slowed down, shot from strange angles, and feature a cacophony of sounds and scenes that almost completely fill the frame. Kinley’s efforts to secure visas for Ahmed and his family, who are in hiding, take up the whole second half of the movie, which she is now back in.
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The phone calls made by Kinley, which make him go through red tape, demonstrate how indifferent the system is to the needs of Afghan interpreters. Ritchie describes a world in which America makes promises, uses up its ally, and then releases them once they are no longer useful. It’s a tale that first surfaced two years ago, when America withdrew from Afghanistan and many of its allies were left at the Taliban’s mercy. The truth of America’s failure should be told, but Ritchie can’t help but overdo the theatrical clichés in these scenes. Emily Beecham, Kinley’s obedient wife, is painted as nothing more than a supporting spouse, and Kinley is reduced to a character more based on shock value than on genuine, aching emotions.
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Ritchie consistently makes tonal mistakes, but Gyllenhaal tries his best to cover for them. However, he is limited in what he can do because “The Covenant” is being directed more in the James Bond direction. In the film’s last scene piece, which is set atop a dam and defies the strict realism that dominates the first half, the explosions grow larger, the slow motion gets slower, and the bullets appear to fly farther. Should we be appreciative of the massive amount of firepower on show or legitimately terrified as black site contractors employ an AC-130 gunship (an angel of death) to assist Kinley and Ahmed? Should we feel touched or haunted when the titles start to roll and we see white soldiers grinning while encircling their Afghan translators—some of whom have fuzzy faces or blacked-out eyes—?
“Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant” has the potential to be more than just a bulky, overblown war movie. It had the potential to be an insightful investigation into what went wrong in Afghanistan that was controlled and thought-provoking. Unfortunately, Ritchie is unable to fulfill the latter promise.
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