When you sit down for a Guy Ritchie movie, you would usually think you know what to expect. You’re going to get some thrills, you’re going to get some laughs, and you’re going to get lots — and I mean lots — of action. With his latest film, The Covenant, available now on Prime Video, you’ll still get all of that. In fact, there are explosions within the first few minutes of its two-hour runtime. But, The Covenant is also so much more, making some pertinent commentary on the real horrors of war that, in other cases, might’ve been overshadowed by the action.
The Covenant follows U.S. Army Special Forces Sergeant John Kinley, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, amid the war in Afghanistan in March 2018. In America’s fight to take down the Taliban, Kinley’s unit is ambushed by the militant group, with a lorry bomb attack taking the life of Kinley’s interpreter. He then meets Ahmed Abdullah, played by Dar Salim, the new interpreter, who is aloof yet temperamental. When the pair become the only survivors in yet another Taliban ambush, Abdullah must carry a severely injured Kinley over miles, and miles, of harsh terrain to safety, all while still being hunted.
The typical shootouts and explosions are still present, but they serve as a vessel in which to tell a story that isn’t often explored in big-budget war blockbusters: sometimes, the ‘good guy’ doesn’t win. Ginley and Abdullah’s relationship is tense at first; Ginley is quick to snap and Abdullah, who has said he’s only in this role for the money, acts on his own, undercutting Ginley’s lead. But once their unit is all but wiped out and Ginley suffers a head injury, Abdullah turns into a real-life superhero, transporting Ginley across 120 kilometres of hostile landscape.
While it’s a heroic act, Guy Ritchie never locks in the act as a ‘win’, per se. Instead, it’s just Abdullah doing his duty, and doing the right thing. Interpreters, as The Covenant points out, are some of the most high-risk individuals involved in the war, with the Taliban seeing them as traitors. In fact, the movie points out that, since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan shortly following the U.S.’ departure in 2021, 300 Afghan interpreters affiliated with the U.S. military were murdered by the organisation, with thousands more still in hiding.
Ritchie is careful to let us know that this isn’t a win for America, but rather a net loss for all involved. Kinley and Abdullah just try their hardest to survive for themselves, and for their families (whose pain and worry we see shared often throughout the film). But the raw emotion of the story, and of the situation, is only amplified by the brilliant acting between Gyllenhaal and Salim, who bounce off each other effortlessly. From tense, resistant colleagues to a life-or-death bond, we’re taken on a journey that spans more than just rocky terrain, but the unthinkable emotional rollercoaster of surviving such violent territory, with an entire force set on hunting them down.
The Covenant might just be the next classic war movie, in the wake of Saving Private Ryan and The Hurt Locker before it, as it dares you to contemplate who the real winners of war are, if there are winners at all? The action, gunfights, rocket launchers and supremely-targeted airstrikes keep you on the edge of your seat, but under that is the potential to start a conversation we all should be having.
Watch Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant now on Prime Video, and start your 30-day free trial today.
This article originally appeared on Fandom.
