Lone Survivor is a 2013 American war film written and directed by Peter Berg, and starring Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Eric Bana. The film is based on the 2007 nonfiction book of the same name by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson. Set during the war in Afghanistan, Lone Survivor dramatizes the failed United States Navy SEALs counter-insurgent mission Operation Red Wings, during which a four-man SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team was tasked to track Taliban leader Ahmad Shah.
While based on true events, a number of historical inaccuracies in the film have been noted.[51] Early in the film, the four-man SEAL reconnaissance team is discovered by three goat herders—an elderly man and two teenage boys. In fact, Marcus Luttrell wrote in his book that only one of the teenage goat herders was a boy, not two.[52]
Also in dispute is the number of Taliban fighters involved in the ambush. In Luttrell’s original after-action report, he stated that he and his teammates were attacked by 20-35 insurgents, while his book places the number at over 200.[53] The screenplay describes “A solid line of at least fifty Taliban in firing positions on top of the hill above them."[53] The summary of action for Lt. Murphy's posthumous Medal of Honor describes the enemy force as numbering "more than 50,"[54] while the official citation puts the number at "between 30 and 40 enemy fighters."[55]
The film shows Luttrell (Wahlberg) being able to walk after the Taliban’s ambush on the four-man SEAL team. In reality, Luttrell explained that his legs were numb immediately after the ambush, and when feeling did return to them, the pain from the shrapnel in his legs made it too painful to walk; he had to crawl seven miles looking for water and sanctuary.[51][56] Luttrell also expressed that he did not witness the MH-47 Chinook helicopter being shot down, as seen in the film.[51] At the end of the film, the Pashtun villagers fight off a Taliban attack in a firefight that never actually happened. In reality, the Taliban fighters were outnumbered by the villagers and had no intentions of attacking the village. They did, however, try to sneak in and capture Luttrell in secret. Luttrell also did not go into cardiac arrest after he was rescued, nor was he near death, as seen in the film.[53]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lone_Survivor_(film)
I enjoyed the film, but felt it missed an opportunity to tell the gritty and perhaps more engaging story of the facts surrounding this unfortunate episode.
In short, it tells of Navy Seal (and local villager) heroism and bravery in the face of challenging odds. I have no doubt that, during the operation, those kinds of things happened. However, the film only hinted at the more realistic aspects of this dramatisation and which were perhaps the biggest 'story' of the whole thing.
1. The actual operation was very badly planned. For all the wrong reasons (internal politics) the usual advance team of six Scouts were not sent in to do the recon. Instead a team of four, relatively inexperienced (at that kind of incursion) Navy Seals went in. Coupled with the fact that they broke with standard operating procedures and went in close to the area by fast line descent rather than the usual long yomp in from some distance away. Once in situ the Navy Seals made some bad decisions with regards to where to set up the observation point and settled into an area where discovery of them was possible, if not likely, without regard to any kind of distance perimeter. (The story starts when they are inadvertently discovered by non combatant goatherds).
2. Communications were abysmal. Radio's and Satellite phones were inoperative due to signal issues, a risk that was well known but which was not adequately compensated for.
I thought those two things were perhaps the better story line for a dramatisation about this tragedy. But I guess Hollywood wanted to portray a glossy bit of propaganda, a shame given that this was a real event where real people lost their lives through bad planning, bad risk management, and sheer bad luck.