Film Analysis One
Title: Act of Valor (2012)
Director: Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh
Word Count: 1,545
Setting up the Sequence:
This film is a portrayal of our nation’s finest elite fighting force, the Navy Seals. The film starts out by a certain seal writing a letter to his unborn son in case something was to happen to him on his upcoming mission. This grabs the seriousness of the film and gives some insight to what our nation’s defenders have to go through. Act of Valor introduces each member of the film and specialty attributes each brings to the team. The night before they leave on the mission, they have a family night on the beach with all team members and their families. This shows the tight bond and unity between teams and why they have to be that way. I am a United States Marines who has been deployed to Iraq, twice, and this film accurately portrays how units are very family oriented to make sure that all family matters are taken care of before leaving stateside to head overseas. When you are out there on the battle field, the only people you have are your brothers on your left and your right. A sense of family is created and showcased here in the film.
The scene I am going to analyze takes place in Costa Rica. A CIA agent named Morales is operating undercover in Costa Rica and trying to get information on this man named Christo. Christo is an international smuggler who has partnered up with a childhood friend Abdul Shabal. Shabal used to be named Uri but changed it after becoming an extreme jihadist who is an international terrorist. After Christo discovers that agent Morales is an undercover CIA operative he orders his men to raid the hotel room she is staying in and kidnap her. Two men bombarded in Morales’ apartment, killing her partner in the process. After taking out one of the men, Morales is beaten, carried off, wrapped in the bloody carpet on which her partner laid dead. She is taken to a small gathering of huts deep within the jungle...