Film ReviewsThe Kill Team: out of the mouths of babes
Feb 5, 2015 Anchorage Press
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The Kill Team, a 79-minute documentary by Dan Krauss, reveals shocking accounts of the Maywand District murders in 2010, in the southern Kandahar Province of Afghanistan. A team of five American infantry soldiers that self-identified as the "kill team" set up situations in which they targeted and killed unarmed and unsuspecting Afghan civilians for sport. They justified the set ups as combat scenarios initiated by the victims. After the premeditated murders the soldiers took selfies and even human remains as trophies for their kills. The idea that all's fair in love and war is a contextual notion, and a flawed one at that; rules of war still apply. These rules are meant to govern behavior on the battlefield to minimize carnage and retain a moral and ethical core and a sense of purpose. The Kill Team illustrates how delicate the balance is between the animalistic instinct in Man to control, possess and destroy, and the higher self-or humanity. The documentary tells the story of how the kill team comes together and falls apart, focusing in particular on the story of the whistleblower, 21-year old Adam C. Winfield, and his struggle to survive a hostile situation inside and outside of his platoon.
The kill team was comprised of young, healthy, strapping American men who went from the heartland of the U.S. to the battlefields of Afghanistan, with little experience in between. Their ringleader, Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, a bully with psychopathic tendencies, transformed the 1st Infantry 5th Brigade members into his kill team.
Winfield tried to sound the alarm on the murders but the military machinery was deaf to his attempts. In the meantime, his options in the field diminished and he took part, whether under duress or not, in the crimes. Winfield, along with his fellow kill team members, was convicted of the crimes and sentenced to lengthy terms in military prison.
Krauss opens the documentary with frank and shockingly candid interviews of the 1st Infantry 5th Brigade members as they give detailed accounts of their actions, and out the mouth of babes come deplorable truths that speak to disconnects and broken systems that keep the world in disarray. By focusing on the legal process against Winfield, Krauss ties in the impact of the murders on the families as well as the soldiers. There is a disconnect between the soldiers and the people who love and support them-parents, lovers, friends. The experience of war is so alienating that it's almost like it splits soldiers into two, the person at home and the beast in the field. The latter remains unknown to the civilian world, making reintegration back home difficult and complicated.
Regardless of viewers' political beliefs or moral compasses, The Kill Team is a small part of a bigger conversation that needs to happen about the current state of affairs in an increasingly interconnected and bellicose world. The Kill Team is about a particular situation and crime, but unfortunately, not an isolated occurrence, as evidenced by history; the U.S. is one of many empires and countries that have committed crimes of war systematically and by individuals. The documentary does not give sufficient information or analysis about the war in Afghanistan, but then again, how much can Krauss really cover in less than 80 minutes? Viewers who have not followed the breadth of the wars since 9/11 may feel at a loss yet be repulsed by the violence and graphic images of the documentary. The film seems a little lopsided because even though Sergeant Gibbs is the architect of the atrocities and is referenced throughout, he is not interviewed nor does he give statements that offer a substantial defense.
The Kill Team should raise questions about societal shifts that desensitize realities about war and relationships between peoples. Selfies with human beings killed for sport, home movies validating war experiences, and the perception expressed by kill team members that Afghan lives are worth less than American lives, all signal that there is something very wrong in the world and that if not understood and resolved can lead to the continued unraveling of American values. As Professor Octave Mannoni says in his book Prospero And Caliban: The Psychology of Colonization, one cannot ease a guilty conscience by walking away from a situation one has created.
The Kill Team will show at the Bear Tooth Theatrepub on Monday, February 9, at 7:45 p.m.9
The kill team was comprised of young, healthy, strapping American men who went from the heartland of the U.S. to the battlefields of Afghanistan, with little experience in between. Their ringleader, Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, a bully with psychopathic tendencies, transformed the 1st Infantry 5th Brigade members into his kill team.
Winfield tried to sound the alarm on the murders but the military machinery was deaf to his attempts. In the meantime, his options in the field diminished and he took part, whether under duress or not, in the crimes. Winfield, along with his fellow kill team members, was convicted of the crimes and sentenced to lengthy terms in military prison.
Krauss opens the documentary with frank and shockingly candid interviews of the 1st Infantry 5th Brigade members as they give detailed accounts of their actions, and out the mouth of babes come deplorable truths that speak to disconnects and broken systems that keep the world in disarray. By focusing on the legal process against Winfield, Krauss ties in the impact of the murders on the families as well as the soldiers. There is a disconnect between the soldiers and the people who love and support them-parents, lovers, friends. The experience of war is so alienating that it's almost like it splits soldiers into two, the person at home and the beast in the field. The latter remains unknown to the civilian world, making reintegration back home difficult and complicated.
Regardless of viewers' political beliefs or moral compasses, The Kill Team is a small part of a bigger conversation that needs to happen about the current state of affairs in an increasingly interconnected and bellicose world. The Kill Team is about a particular situation and crime, but unfortunately, not an isolated occurrence, as evidenced by history; the U.S. is one of many empires and countries that have committed crimes of war systematically and by individuals. The documentary does not give sufficient information or analysis about the war in Afghanistan, but then again, how much can Krauss really cover in less than 80 minutes? Viewers who have not followed the breadth of the wars since 9/11 may feel at a loss yet be repulsed by the violence and graphic images of the documentary. The film seems a little lopsided because even though Sergeant Gibbs is the architect of the atrocities and is referenced throughout, he is not interviewed nor does he give statements that offer a substantial defense.
The Kill Team should raise questions about societal shifts that desensitize realities about war and relationships between peoples. Selfies with human beings killed for sport, home movies validating war experiences, and the perception expressed by kill team members that Afghan lives are worth less than American lives, all signal that there is something very wrong in the world and that if not understood and resolved can lead to the continued unraveling of American values. As Professor Octave Mannoni says in his book Prospero And Caliban: The Psychology of Colonization, one cannot ease a guilty conscience by walking away from a situation one has created.
The Kill Team will show at the Bear Tooth Theatrepub on Monday, February 9, at 7:45 p.m.9