Clearly, Cowperthwaite relishes making films about real people and real events. And real animals.
In the true life story of Megan Leavey — Marine K9 trainer and Iraqi war hero — the director and screenwriters (Pamela Gray, Annie Mumolo, Tim Lovestedt) have found a powerful example of how a woman and a dog can deeply connect through the perils of war and the ongoing traumas beyond the battlefield. But this is not merely a story of (Wo)man’s Best Friend. This is a story of purpose, survival, recovery… redemption, even.
Who knew the feel-good movie of the summer would turn out to be a combat biopic?
We are assured that no animals were harmed in the making of this film, and that’s good to hear, because the Iraqi battlefield is notorious for chewing up dogs and soldiers alike. IEDs can rip flesh and destroy hearing and assault the psyche. Yet here is a war movie where the whole point is not the brutality of the fighting but the intensity of the interdependence between a soldier and her German shepherd, Rex.
Though there are plenty of harrowing scenes of soldiers on reconnaissance, when an enemy may be lurking behind every mound of rubble or a bomb may be hidden under every prayer rug, the real conflict comes after Leavey's time in the Marines is over. Having completed more than 100 missions, Leavey and Rex are both wounded and sent into rehab. After the deployment is ended, her Marine career finished and the medals awarded, she now struggles with military bureaucracy to adopt the dog and bring him home, too. Rex has been officially declared "unadoptable" because of his combat-induced trauma.
Whatever your views of the political situation in the Middle East and the US involvement in that conflict — how our lust for oil leads to loss of life, how terrorism is linked to religion — you cannot watch this film without a lump in your throat and a tightness in your chest. Yes, sure, we see tough, gruff Marines, both in training and in combat, with plenty of heart-stopping dangerous action in this hostile country. Megan Leavey put her life at risk as one of the first women to operate in an active combat zone in Fallujah and Ramadi. And in a second deployment, enemy forces detonate a remote-controlled land mine which injures both soldier and dog. As Megan is taken away by helicopter for emergency medical treatment, Rex stays behind to further protect the remaining troops from the resulting firefight.
But as crazy as it is to see it in this perspective, this is not a combat picture at all. Rather, it is a movie about a woman and a dog, unapologetically reveling in the strength and depth of their love and loyalty.
Kate Mara as the title character has appeared briefly in films, but she’s likely more known for her pivotal role as a compromised and threatened reporter in the critically acclaimed House of Cards. Most recently she has filmed John Curran’s thriller Chappaquiddick in which she plays doomed Mary Jo Kopechne and starred in Tali Shalom-Ezer’s film Mercy, both to be released later this year. Playing Megan Leavey may well be her breakout performance and introduction to big-time Hollywood roles.
This is not necessarily a pro or con military film. Again, the reason for this movie is to celebrate — without bombast, without God-Bless-the-USA first-ism, without battlefield gore and foxhole glory — the love between soldier and K9, the bond that transcends the animal and redeems the human.
This article appears in Jun 1-8, 2017.