Review: HBO's The Battle for Marjah is poignant and sad

By April MacIntyre Feb 17, 2011, 22:47 GMT

Former Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, was interviewed in a sad recounting of the errors and outright lies that made up the Vietnam War in the documentary, "The Fog of War."

The film revealed what most of us already knew: Battling entrenched combatants on their home turf involves heavy civilian casualties, and imparts little good will, despite our politician's spoken intent, or a ground soldier's desire to serve his country with honor.

So we repeat a bit of history in a sense with HBO's gut-punch of a documentary, "The Battle for Marjah” one of many Iraq and Afghanistan live-action documentaries, as this British production is a hopeless Catch-22 where we meet a fast-talking village boy smoking with adults as he plainly tells our Bravo company Marines, "Tell your jets not to bomb us here."

A massive undertaking, Operation Moshtarak was launched by U.S. Marines in February 2010. The goal was to secure Marjah, believed to be controlled by the Taliban in the Helmand province.

We meet the Marines, these brave American forces, as journalist Ben Anderson was embedded with Bravo company, making a real life home movie at the front. 

The footage is jarring, feeling a bit like "Saving Private Ryan" without any vegetation or tanks, as an attack is ramped up and launched after the Obama administration announced a beefed up presence, and orders 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.

This new Obama-Afghan initiative had four goals: secure Marjah and rid it of the Taliban, secure the perimeter, build infrastructure and then ideally, transfer all military/police control to the trained Afghan security forces.

“The Battle for Marjah” is a historical record of combat on the ground and an attempt to accurately register true reactions for the larger and seemingly insurmountable battle for hearts and minds.

For me, this entire effort was futile, as these dirt poor villagers had no chance either way.  If they cooperate with the American troops, the Taliban, upon their return, will slaughter them for not resisting.  If they fight, as one villager did per his orders from his Taliban masters, he will be gunned down by one of our soldiers during the sweep.

The emotionally guarded Bravo company commander, Capt. Ryan Sparks, nearly breaks up when he honestly reveals how he inadvertently sent one Marine to his death, shot in the back during a skirmish as he was transporting some needed equipment.

There is no uplifting feel-good moment here, even in the aftermath where the Marines try to build up and restore a play park, and pay off civilians for dead relatives killed by an American rocket.  Imagine if this happened in the states, and foreign soldiers were handing us money for our accidentally killed neighbors and family members.

The powerless poor people caught in the middle are the ones who suffer the most. Whatever your politics, you cannot be naive to think that the Taliban will be eradicated here. The bottomless pit of our tax dollars and the lives of young men and women continue to bleed out in Afghanistan.  The story remains the same, and history repeats itself.

HBO, Thursday night at 9, Eastern and Pacific times; 8, Central time.

Written, filmed and produced by Ben Anderson; directed by Anthony Wonke; executive producer, Guy Davies; editor, Gregor Lyon; original music, Andrew Phillips. For HBO: executive producer, Sheila Nevins; senior producer, Nancy Abraham.