The Covenant: POV Across Enemy Lines

In the art of film, war movies have always been a fan-favorite among Americans. During the time of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, movies telling stories from these fronts became prominent in pop culture. Many of these films focus on the perspective of the American front, with very little investment into characters that were not American soldiers. The movies released during this time fail to give a 360-degree interpretation of what these occupations were like for Americans, civilians, and enemies alike.

Guy Richie's "The Covenant" is a story that covers a new perspective from the American occupation of Afghanistan. Set in 2018, the story follows Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his interpreter, Ahmed (Dar Salim), working to track down Improvised Explosive Devices. While on a mission, Kinley and his team are ambushed, with the only two survivors being Kinley and Ahmed. The two flee for their lives behind enemy lines, being hunted down by the Taliban. The story gets interesting when the main point of view changes from Kinley to Ahmed after Kinley suffers from a bullet wound that debilitates him from traveling on his own. Instead of leaving Kinley to die, Ahmed takes matters into his own hands to carry him back across American lines. The journey includes sequences of close calls with the Taliban, Ahmed pushing Kinley up a hill in a cart, and taking care of Kinley. In the aftermath, Kinley is overrun with the debt he owes Ahmed for saving his life and goes through everything he can to get Ahmed and his family safe passage to attaining U.S. visas as promised. 

Within this part of the film, we see Ahmed's interactions with the Taliban and Afghan civilians. When Ahmed is traveling via truck, with Kinley smuggled in the bed, he is stopped by Taliban soldiers who order him to give them a ride. In this high-stress scene, Ahmed realizes they must travel on foot. Ahmed stumbles upon a group of men to whom he offers his car in exchange for their cart and medical care for Kinley. The man replies, saying, "I don't like the Taliban. I will help you" (1:00:15-1:00:23). Through this trek to safety, we see a side of the culture across enemy lines that is not commonly represented among American movies. We are shown the culture of the Afghan people and how their internal differences interact with the conflict in their homeland. 

This film's message brings to light the experiences of being a citizen in an occupied country, constantly suffering from violence and fear from both sides. In 2021, after the United States pulled out of Afghanistan, there was some noise in the news for a while before we stopped hearing about it entirely. Now, two and a half years since we left, many of the promises the Taliban said they would keep have disintegrated. As a result of this, almost all of the rehabilitation that America once attempted to achieve in Afghanistan has failed. 

Amnesty.org reported in 2022 that,

"Peaceful protestors faced arbitrary arrests, torture, and enforced disappearance...Public executions and floggings were used as punishment for crimes such as murder, theft, “illegitimate” relationships, or violating social norms. Women’s rights continued to be attacked, and women’s participation in public life was severely limited. Afghanistan was the only country in the world where girls were banned from attending secondary school."

The continuous violence and lack of human rights within Afghanistan have become overcast by other world news, leaving the U.S. to forget and push aside the twenty years spent in a country that has returned to its natural form. The civilians left behind are the ones who are dealing with this now as we move on to the next world issue to involve ourselves with. This film causes the reader to see through a different perspective than the American soldier. Kinley’s character represents a mutual American feeling of guilt for leaving these civilians behind. The burden Kinley feels after going home and Ahmed’s lack of safety in Afghanistan points out a similar feeling that we, as Americans, think for the civilians left to be run by the Taliban. Except, our reality is not a movie. Things are not so simple as to go back for them on the fly.