Home > Coffee House

Thursday 9 February 2012

Tuesday, 27th January 2009

The neglected war

Fraser Nelson 1:23pm

Anyone with vaguest interest in the war we’re fighting in Helmand should tune in next Sunday to Ross Kemp’s Return to Afghanistan. I went to a preview on Friday, and was most impressed.

We’re told more about the war in Gaza than the one in Afghanistan, and what we do hear from Helmand is normally a staggered narrative of casualties. Kemp’s documentary has something different: it offers a vivid and utterly compelling journey into the lives of the soldiers fighting a fanatical enemy in an environment where the heat can be as deadly as bullets. And Sky has spent the time and money to tell the soldiers’ story.

The power of the documentary lies in its fly-on-the-wall style: different things jump out at you, without the need for commentary. Kemp is ambushed about half an hour after starting out in Helmand, and the camera pretty much tells the rest of the story. You can be struck by the humour (“RPGs have right of way” says a sign on a tent) and the almost unfathomable calm of the soldiers. One lights a cigarette as they’re pinned down in a compound waiting for reinforcements under fire from three directions. Some of the soldiers from Delta Company were also at the preview on Friday and started laughing when they saw themselves react to the bullets whizzing a foot or so above their heads. I asked one of them later how he manages to keep calm. “Easy,” he said. “You lose your cool, you’re dead”. And it’s that kind of quiet heroism that comes across.

While it’s mixed more like a film than a documentary, it’s no Boys’ Own adventure: it interviews the parents of the bereaved, and shows one soldier breaking down when he talks about the death of a friend. Sacrifice and mortality are suffused throughout. It shows Afghan civilians coming in for treatment; there are apparently guts on display in later episodes. All aspects of military life are there. At one point, the Company catch a vomiting bug. As Kemp says ‘people walk past you, then projectile vomit’. It also shows the problems we have with lack of kit. “These are the times you wish you had enough air support” Kemp says to the camera, as they hide in the fields from an ambush.

At the preview on Friday, Kemp said – quite angrily - how the Taliban are very much aware of the UK rules of engagement. So Taliban fighters drop their weapons if they see a helicopter and pretend to be farmers. They can’t be shot. Whenthe chopper disappears, they pick up their guns again and start trying to kill British soldiers.

Kemp works well as a narrator because he has this ineffable everyman quality to him, he doesn’t attempt to come over the hard man. He sees soldiers as the stars, and doesn’t attempt to steal the show but lets them talk (even if Sky subtitle some of the Scots soldiers, the cheeky sods). One private, Nigel Campbell, even praises the Taleban as fighters. “They’re not saying ‘we’ll take these guys on for the sake of a few dollars” he says. “They’re fighting for what they believe in, and you have to respect that.”

Kemp showed his film to MPs last week, and for many of them it will be the best way of understanding the conflict that they debate all too infrequently. There is a dearth of information from Afghanistan, interrupted by the occasional brilliant blasts of reporting from the likes of Tom Newton Dunn and Christina Lamb. But it costs a bomb to send journalists there (the insurance premiums don’t pass Fleet St’s tight purse stings) and going off base is genuinely dangerous. A journalist friend of mine died out there from dehydration, and was brought back to life by a heart message on a helicopter (you can read her story here). Kemp’s cameraman took even more of a risk by lugging this massive HD camera, making him a walking Taliban target. Kemp says the drawback to his film is his inability to get the heat across. Ask a soldier if the environment is more dangerous than the Taliban, he says, and they’ll tell you its 50/50. He also said (at the preview) that “you’re not going to hold the ground there unless you have more troops. And I’m not making that up. I’m listening to people, and passing that on.” But Brown’s commitment, or lack of it, to the campaign is another story.

This is a critical year for Afghanistan, and I suspect public support for the deployment would be a lot larger if more documentaries like this were shown. (It is weird that a commercial station like Sky is the one doing them rather than our so-called public service broadcaster, the BBC). Also at a time when we’re worrying about feckless youth, it’s inspiring to see the courage and professionalism of these teenagers in uniform. (“Some of the guys I went to school with are sitting around doing nothing,” says one 18-year-old private, seemingly pleased that he’s the one who gets to dodge the Talben’s bullets).

Kemp’s film of Delta Company in Helmand shows the very best of the British character. It tells us about the sort of people that all too often we only hear about when they die. Sky had 2m viewers for last series, and this one is better still. It comes with a hearty Coffee House recommendation.

Previous Back to Coffee House Next

Actions: Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (17) | Subscribe

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Post comment

Mr Green

January 27th, 2009 2:41pm Report this comment

Meanwhile the BBC will be showing Eastenders.

adrian drummond

January 27th, 2009 3:10pm Report this comment

I happened to come across some films made last year by Ross Kemp in Afghanistan on youtube and was extremely impressed. Would recommend them to everyone.

Jerboa

January 27th, 2009 3:45pm Report this comment

Just tell it as it is, and all credit to Sky for trying to do just that. As for the BBC ever since Korea they have run away from telling it as it is for the rank and file British troops sent in to clear up the political mess.

Bob.India

January 27th, 2009 4:11pm Report this comment

I thought that the previous series demonstrated, amongst other things, Ross Kemp's very gutsy performance on the ground in Afghanistan. I'm pleased and unsurprised to learn that he continues his most creditable performance. I'm similarly pleased that the British Army, and in particular the infantry, is also shown in the same good light, as the brave and professional force that even Gordon Brown's past destruction of Scottish regiments and present day depredations of defence budget cannot eclipse. Perhaps this series will add to the nation’s realisation of the true damage to the country, wrought by the continuing Brown terror.

strapworld

January 27th, 2009 4:54pm Report this comment

The great concern, Mr Fraser, is that you and your fellow journalists have allowed this to be a forgotten war. Are you, are they, demanding from their editors why this is the case?

SKY have had excellent reports but name me a journalist that has given the real truth?

Are your editors writing letters to the Prime Minister and all political leaders, demanding that the people be told the TRUTH about Afghanistan?

How many more young British lives must be lost before someone over here takes NOTE!

I also find it objectionable that the only recognition they get is a garbled mention at the start of PMQ's whilst NOT ONE member of parliament stands in silence in their memory.

YET, can I read about the Prime Minister or any Secretary of State welcoming back our fallen heroes? Can I read about just what is happening to our sons and daughters out there in this mindless war?

The poppy harvest is greater than ever this year!

But, I am sorry Mr Nelson but as a father of a son in the army I have no confidence in our National Press in bringing me the real news!

TGF UKIP

January 27th, 2009 5:47pm Report this comment

Careful Fraser when you say of such documentaries "It is weird that a commercial station like Sky is doing them rather than our so-called public service broadcaster, the BBC"

Challenges like that may be just too much for the BBC, so don't be surprised if they do produce such a documentary, entirely from the Taleban viewpoint of course.

An absolutely ideal vehicle for such as Fergal Keane or Alan Little or perhaps Jeremey Bowen might fancy a change from being the Palestininans very own Max Clifford.

TrevorsDen

January 27th, 2009 5:55pm Report this comment

Kemps first programmes were very good. He has gone up in my estimation. Like a typical 'thesp' he referred to the the pre dawn tension before an operation in terms of Shakespeare and Henry V and Agincourt.

Forgiveable - because he was right.

Our troops are working under very difficult conditions in Helmand and are not getting the practical support they need, nor the political support from our govt. It is not a question of simple support from the media - its more telling it like it is.

The fact is unless we can support our troops and with superior public MORALE face down the Taliban we will lose this war - and the govt seem to want to brush under the carpet whats happening because they fear trying to get public support for our troops.

Rhoda Klapp

January 27th, 2009 6:48pm Report this comment

I don't watch Ross Kemp when he's acting, but in these factual programmes he is excellent. Better than any reporter I can think of. Good for Sky. Shame on the rest of the media.

Now remind me again just WTF our guys are doing out there?

EyeSee

January 27th, 2009 6:59pm Report this comment

Troops hold the ground and that is the only way to win as seen from Malaysia to Northern Ireland. But Kemps films show quite clearly the waste of time (money, resources and lives) that is the game Brown is playing to be seen as 'acting on the world stage'. Make no mistake these lives are being lost only to serve the vanity of New Labour politicians. With too few troops they go out, get shot at and go back to base. We may win stunning victories along the way, but shortage of men means we ALWAYS give territory back. It is pointless. But with the media supporting the corrupt cabal in government and ignoring British soldiers, with the absolute lack of care (except for their pension pot etc) of NL the blood stains on Blair and Browns hands cannot be wiped away. Criminals? You bet. Any of Blair's wastrels serving their country in uniform? Er, no. Too busy whining and looking for the easy buck, like mum n dad. Brown has a partial excuse; he's clinically mad.

Paul B

January 27th, 2009 7:03pm Report this comment

I enjoyed Kemps first Afghanistan series and as a consequence I`m, looking to his new one. It was obvious the squaddies took to him/trusted him and therefore opened up to him. Hes not a poseur, has no axe to grind that I can see, which all contributes to making fascinating viewing.

David Preiser

January 27th, 2009 7:59pm Report this comment

Fraser, the BBC won't do anything like this because it would come across as far too positive towards the troops and their goals. For some time now, the editorial position at Broadcasting House is that Afghanistan and the Taliban are analogues for Northern Ireland and the IRA. I'm sure you can do the math from there.

THX1138

January 27th, 2009 11:18pm Report this comment

Go watch the new HBO drama "Generation Kill" about Marine "grunts" in the Iraqi War, from the guys who made The Wire (the best TV series ever made)

http://fxuk.com/specials/generation-kill/

Sunday Nights @ 10:00 on the FX Channel, it's absolutely brilliant I can't recommend highly enough, totally uncompromising in both action & dialogue.

Go and set the Sky+ right now you won't be disappointed.

David Short

January 28th, 2009 4:41pm Report this comment

I saw the last series when the soldiers around Kemp were in a pretty scarey engagement.

But it IS Boy's Own stuff because all it shows is a shooting skirmish; Kemp reports nothing about why we're there, or indeed the significance, if any, of winning a mini-battle, resulting in taking over some dusty old deserted village, which the Taliban will one day take again.

We were invited in there by the Karzai government (we did not invade, tho I'm sure I've heard a BBC reporter use that word). Why we are still propping it up is beyond me.

The BBC would not do such a series, and I am sure one reason is that it is literally pointless to do so.

Sky bods only watch it for 'Phil Mitchell'.

They would soon switch off if, instead hearing bullets flying from the safety of their armchairs, they had to listen to someone intelligently explaining what the Taliban is, who backs them, and the implications for our relations with Pakistan and Iran.

A Royal Marine's Mum

January 28th, 2009 5:42pm Report this comment

Well done for your review,Fraser Nelson am hoping that the BBC take notice of this series..

Pot Head

January 28th, 2009 6:17pm Report this comment

Call me cynical but now Fraser is a NofW hack he's probably just puffing a Sky prog for the Digger and after all Ross Kemp is Rebekah Wade's Hubby.

How many times have we read in the NofW or the Sun that this or the Sky prog or Fox Film is the best thing ever, ever, this post is just more if the same.