MovieChat Forums > Murph: The Protector (2013) Discussion > Any reviews from non-US-citizens?

Any reviews from non-US-citizens?

posted 10 years ago by claus-50
17 replies | jump to latest

I get the feeling that the vast majority of reviews of this documentary, are from US citizens, and they all praise the movie with 9 or 10 stars.

Might be it's just one of the best documentaries of all time.. but then again, I can't help thinking that .. maybe these reviews come from either servicemen (or women :) who feel a strong bond to the subject matter, or from "patriots".

I'm not trying to stereotype anyone here, but.. reading the reviews, it does seem rather biased. I have nothing but the deepest respect for servicemen, warriors and anyone who stands up when others sit down, let me make that clear, but the sheer volume of overly positive reviews (that hardly tell anything about the movie, but use capitalized "Hero" a lot) makes my "this sounds like Germany in the 30's"-senses tingle.

Can anyone who isn't .. emotionally biased.. towards the subject matter.. (was that subtle enough? :) recommend this movie?

[–] paculka007 10 years ago

I'm not from US, but I think I can't help you, as I cried while reading Lone Survivor, I'm very emotional about this stuff - SEALs, army, heros. But then again, how can you not be when you hear stories about Murph or others?

[–] allezjc 10 years ago

I enjoy documentaries quite a bit and thanks to youtube nowadays I watch dozens of 'em on a daily basis whenever work allows it. I read 'lone survivor' back in 2011 while in southern afghanistan working as a firefighter/medic, I can tell you I enjoyed the book a lot and I kinda' expected hollywood to mutilate the story a bit but after watching lone survivor a few weeks back I don't think they did a bad job except of course for the third act (captivity ordeal)at the end of the day the ultimate goal of the movie was accomplished as it will be an eternal testimony of what great individuals are willing to do for their country, families and beliefs.
I'd really like to check 'Murph' as I cannot have enough respect for people like Mike Murphy, axelson, dietz, luttrell or the armed forces as a whole considering the fact that it's because of the us military (air force in my case) that I now have made a career on a field that back home -south america- I'd only do as volunteer, anyways I look forward to the Murph DVD release so I can order it and watch it here (currently Iraq).

V/R

[–] bektaskonca 10 years ago

i am a none USA citizen in europe we do not watch any docu films like this but we did like the lone survivor as it was the most realistic war movie come out of USA and lots of people i know liked it. there is hostility towards american action war movies as they tend to not reflect the reality of war the cause and effect, wikileaks release of files and clips made it even worse here as people felt disgusted with the way american soldiers acted.

[–] boywonderpowpunch 10 years ago

I'm, pretty sure that he was asking about a review for this movie, not Lone Survivor. Anyway you must have seen few war films because although Lone Survivor is a pretty cool war movie, it is not very realistic. If you mean realistic because the so called leading men or heroes get the *beep* end of the stick? Well yeah, it's a true story. Other than that though it's not very realistic, there are tons of unrealistic scenes in it actually.

When thinking of realistic war films, what comes to mind for me is Saving Private Ryan, Full Metal Jacket and Black Hawk Down, these films show war itself, the defending and opposing forces points of view and all the emotional and chaos involved in war. In Lone Survivor you don't see the enemies point of view really and there are a bunch of over done action sequences in the film that while are cool to watch don't seem that realistic.

But Seriously Your Opinion Is Wrong

[–] bektaskonca 10 years ago

i beg the difference as i come from the culture i understand what this man have sacrificed for protecting an American Soldier in Taliban land it takes balls to do so. i have been watching movies since 70s and to be honest i do not like war movies and musicals and have seen the movies you listed none felt as real is Lone Survivor did, it might be due to coming from same culture as this villagers did and living in society gun clash on street was a normal every day event for me untill i left in 86 i don't know?? i know you felt like there was over acting due to way it was portrayed believe me when i say this is how people talk in those regions if not you will be eaten by wolves, scene where Walberg was going over top threatening people around him when he had nothing if he not done so they would have cut his neck in 2min. i hope one day you visit places like this to see what i am saying and realise how good a life is in west.

[–] scousethief 10 years ago

Lone survivor is not realistic in anyway at all

[–] bektaskonca 10 years ago

why is that ? which part is bothering you about the movie?? or are you one of those people thinks Captain America is more realistic?.

[–] scousethief 10 years ago

Experience

[–] dacheese13 10 years ago

where exactly in EU u r based? I find it hard to believe that here in EU where "many" peeps who found Lone Survivor realistic!!! it was a fun movie to watch at the weekend but it wasn't that great or even that realistic. Lastly we r discussing here about this docu, if it is any good, but still u probably found the urge to express your pro-us army movies feelings so strong that u couldn't resist huh? Anyway about the docu, its a classical pro-us army docu, (US the good guys, the rest bad ones) more over it remind me docus like Restrepo and the huge war stories collection from history channel (if I remember correctly). If u find it hard to dissociate the people from what they stand for, it's going to be a pain to watch, but if u manage to see the soldiers as human beings, then its an ok docu, still though imho the docu about the Black Hawk Down was way better... dont shoot me that was my opinion.

PS: Lone Survivor realistic... omg... we heard that!
PS1: Someone told you that it wasn't realistic and u started rumbling about "what bothered you" and "Cpt. America" man u r all over the place, where should I even begging... u r not worth it!

[–] bektaskonca 10 years ago

i find that Black Hawk Down sucked big time as did The Hurt Locker which bored me to death but as i mentioned before i am not fan of war movies or musicals. i have enjoyed Lone Survivor and watched it twice as i did with platoon, Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter is one of my favs, one of the worst recent war movie i have watched was Inglourious Basterds saying that every one has different taste in movies this is just my opinion.

[–] dacheese13 10 years ago

I spoke about the docu of Black Hawk Down not the movie m8.

[–] bektaskonca 10 years ago

i have not heard of the movie so i can not comment on that one, as far as i know movies is an adaptation from a real events which happened in Somali conflict and still not settled. i know the the events of the film as due to mistakes made by USA army few soldiers got stuck in a hostile place under firefight from Somalian warlord and this kind of mistakes are portrayed in films since Vietnam war due to making interesting watch, shows that few soldiers bravery against hundreds and they come out in triumphs, well actually it started with Western movies few cowboys against hundreds of native Americans. i know from experience this events are mostly fictional as now we see from new Wikileaks files published now we know how oppressing forces use their power on this countries.

[–] dacheese13 10 years ago

r u trolling me?!!!
In your previous response u said that the movie sucked, and now you r telling me that u haven't heard of the movie?!!!
And still u got so frakking fixated on the movie, I was talking about the DOCUmentary... docu = documentary... either-way am tired, u r just hopeless, u only respond to respond, without even reading what the previous man said...
I just hope peeps who really wanted to know about the docu Murph, found my initial post helpful.
tc peeps

[–] bektaskonca 10 years ago

you need to learn to read, i did not care much about the film so why would i care about documentary it is all explained on my previous post, in all honest it is you trolling here and it is a fact not a guess like yours.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tain-5 8 years ago

Although I am a US citizen I was not indoctrinated to hail to the chief and salute the flag no matter what and think what I am told. My parents were regular folks and not those counter culture hippie types either. I assume that is what you are looking for, unbiased opinion.

The whole film is about what a nice guy he was and what a senseless death he died. Although they refer to him as a hero at the end a bunch of times and he has a ship named after him, there is nothing heroic ever mentioned that he did. You wait but nope, though the school bully incident comes close. It would seem that it is just another case of a victim being glorified to make people feel better about it and recruit more to take his place. Disappointing sentimental drivel. The second half is not worth watching.

[–] slfritsch 8 years ago

I do not agree with your position as to what the film was about. The purpose of the film was not to say his death was "senseless". It's not like he was walking down a street at noon to a store and a drunk driver ran him over and killed him. That would be "senseless". He was on a mission as a SEAL in Afghanistan. He died in combat serving and protecting the US. Nowhere does the film imply that his death was senseless. In fact, such a comment his disrespectful to his parents, family, friends, and other military members that lost their lives that day. Murphy probably is rolling over in his grave for you calling him a "victim" as well. If you got anything from this film you would understand that he was not a "victim" and that no one claims he was a victim. "There is nothing heroic ever mentioned". I guess we were watching two different films. First, any person that puts their own lives one the line(military, police, firemen) are heroes. Second, he risked his life for his fellow SEALS when during the firefight while wounded he went to an open area so his radio/phone could get a signal to call for help. He stayed in that open area until the call went through. He did that knowing he would be shot which he was and then continued to fight despite being wounded until he was eventually killed. The purpose of the film was not to give a detailed account of what happened that day. If you want that read Luttrell's book. It was to humanize him. Show people the type of guy he was, what his friends thought of him and how he got to be a SEAL. People have this fantasy that SEALS are like superhero cartoon characters but they are not. The commanding officer even mentioned that in the film. It seems that you have prejudgments and those have clouded your review. What's great is that you can your opinion and I can have mine.