Figure 1. The Covenant,[1] Ahmed and Kinley side by side, Screenrant, 19 Apr. 2023.[2]
Guy Ritchie’s film The Covenant follows the story of a U.S. sergeant named John Kinley.
Having been deployed to Afghanistan after 9/11, Kinley meets Ahmed, an Afghan
interpreter. Ahmed is helping the U.S. Army because he needs special immigration visas
to secure his and his family's safety.
While looking for weapons stored by the Taliban, everyone in Kinley’s squad is killed by
Taliban forces. Kinley and Ahmed are forced to run and hide, and the former
gets gravely injured by Taliban soldiers. Ahmed eventually saves Kinley and successfully
gets him home. However, Kinley finds out that Ahmed was forced into hiding in
Afghanistan, having never gotten the visas he was promised. An enraged and indebted
Kinley returns to Afghanistan, rescues Ahmed from the Taliban, and gets him the visas.
The Covenant builds resistance against the war in Afghanistan. Early in the film, Kinley
is concerned about how his men are constantly put into danger over false leads.
This is reminiscent of the Iraq War when President Bush falsely stated that Iraq had
weapons of mass destruction to give the war a “meaningful” purpose for both the public
and the troops. The revelation that the U.S. government did not give Ahmed his
visa, even though Ahmed risked his life to save Kinley and managed to prove his worth to
the U.S. Army, is heartbreaking. These Afghan interpreters are tricked with an empty
promise to contribute to the U.S. war effort. If Ahmed had not been promised the visas, he
would have had no reason to help the U.S. Army, and the Taliban would not have targeted
him. These empty promises and false statements perpetuate the cycle of war.
The Covenant also displays the disconnect between soldier and citizen. When Kinley was
on the run from the Taliban, Kinley’s wife thought he was dead and was faced with the
constant burden of saying goodbye to her husband without knowing if he was coming back.
She felt isolated from Kinley while he was away, and all she could do
was hope for his return.
Figure 2. The Covenant, Kinley trying to get the visas for Ahmed, Spotern, n.d.[3]
What makes The Covenant unique compared to other films is its focus on
the foreign interpreter. Films like Zero Dark Thirty are centered around the CIA
and other military agencies. However, all of the events that occur in The Covenant
have to do with Ahmed. An emotional scene shows Ahmed putting in all his effort to carry an injured Kinley to safety as if Ahmed were the main character. The end of the
film brings up the fact that many interpreters were murdered for helping the U.S. Army,
a detail that would have been unnecessary if the film was not centered around the interpreter.
Furthermore, Kinley’s ultimate goal in the film is not to hunt down a Taliban leader.
Instead, it is to help an Afghan interpreter move out of Afghanistan safely.
This contrasts with films such as Zero Dark Thirty, where the main character’s
ultimate goal is usually to fight on the war front or to hunt down an important figure.
The emphasis on the interpreter demonstrates how there are not only
two armies fighting in a war; there are other parties just as involved, and their contributions
fuel the state of perpetual war as much as the ones directly involved in combat do.
Figure 3. The Covenant. Ahmed bringing Kinley to safety,
Rotten Tomatoes, 8 May 2023.[4]
As I watched The Covenant, I realized that the context surrounding the
war in Afghanistan is not all that different from today’s context. In 2021, immediately
after the U.S. Army withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban quickly seized control of
the country. From a Western perspective, the war was now pointless because the
Taliban successfully took over Afghanistan. However, the war in Afghanistan was always
pointless because it was a product of an endless cycle of war fueled by
the vision of a Western world where every country adheres to democratic values.
Fighting terrorism and promoting democracy have always been the excuses for initiating wars,
and today is no different. Even though these wars are pointless, we are led to believe
they have a purpose to them so that the cycle is preserved. The cycle goes on as long as the
same excuses are made and the public has the same reactions. People like Ahmed have to help
perpetuate this dreadful cycle just to have a chance at living a normal life, which demonstrates
how war is seen as the key to restoring a sense of normalcy even though it is endless
and thrives at the expense of all human life.
References:
[1] Ritchie, Guy. The Covenant. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc., 2023.
[2] https://screenrant.com/the-covenant-movie-cast-character-guide/
[4] https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/guy_ritchies_the_covenant/videos/2203850307820
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