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Ross Kemp In Afghanistan [2008]


RRP: £19.99
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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk review

The hugely acclaimed series from Sky makes its way to DVD, and if you haven’t checked in with it already, then this is the ideal opportunity to see what the fuss surrounding Ross Kemp in Afghanistan is all about.

Kemp, of course, is still primarily known for playing Grant Mitchell in EastEnders. But here there’s no fiction: Ross Kemp in Afghanistan sees him joining his father’s old regiment - 1 Royal Anglian - to get first hand experience of the work of the British Army in the fight against the Taliban.

What differentiates Ross Kemp in Aghanistan from the news reports and documentaries that have also tackled similar subject matter is the sheer candidness of it. There’s no hiding the brutality of war, or the intensity of the fighting here. Some of the footage is quite extraordinary and frequently shocking. And you can hardly accuse Kemp of shirking the action: he’s often slap-bang in the midst of it.

A superb piece of work, and a very enlightening one, Ross Kemp in Afghanistan was richly rewarded with plaudits when it was first broadcast, and rightly so. It’s a towering piece of television, whatever your position on the war itself, and one that simply must piece be seen. Superb. --Jon Foster


Embedded Kemp
Review date: 2008-11-20 Rating: 10 out of 10

It's strange to see a action movies' actor "acting" in a real battlecamp. The tour of Ross Kemp (Ultimate Force and so on) with the british troops in Afghanistan is very interesting. He make a hystory of the deployment of Vikings beginning from the preparation at home. The scenes at Camp Bastion and during the missions are excellent and they make a "real" reportage of operations in Afghanistan where the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment - the Vikings - lost 9 men with 57 wounded in over 350 engagements with Taliban (and over 1.000 losses for the enemy).
A limit ? It's always a TV show (for families) not a bloodybath-warmovie: the real war with blood, tears and sweat is only on background.

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Reviews


Excellent for all audiences
Review date: 2008-06-05 Rating: 10 out of 10

Certainly one of the best accounts from the infantryman's point of view. Great for training too, at least in terms of putting people in the picture. The case specifies that subtitles are available. Why then is it impossible to activate this most useful feature?

Excellent close-up view of what war is truly like
Review date: 2008-05-02 Rating: 10 out of 10

On almost all DVDs on war the commentator is comfortably sitting in a studio 1000's kms from the action. Ross Kemp does not employ this accepted method. Rather he accompanies the soldiers of the 1st Royal Anglian regiment on their patrols & offensives against the Taliban. The result is that one obtains excellent close-up views of the reality of war. At no stage does one get the feeling that Ross Kemp is pulling any punches when depicting the grim realities of war.

Maybe similar views are available on local British TV, but for a South African they provide one with the first close-up views of this conflict.

What is surprising is that the British army does not yet deploy mine protected vehicles as part of their equipment. In both Iraq & Afghanistan, IEDs ie Improvised Explosive Devices wreak havoc on unprotected vehicles. When South Africa converted to using Mine Protected Vehicles during their bush war, casualties were reduced to zero from the scourge of mines.

The only time when Ross Kemp appears less than convincing was when he gave what is in my view were naïve answers to questions by local Afghanis.

For all those wanting an insight into this war, purchase this DVD.



Finally someone has made what I've been waiting for.
Review date: 2008-04-26 Rating: 10 out of 10

Whilst many know Ross Kemp as "that bloke off the telly", here he really shines as a great narrator to a most extraordinary series.

Kemp seems to slide into the extremely guarded world of the military with relative ease, however you are always aware that he never quite fits in and nor, it appears, does he attempt to. Instead he narrates the goings on of the Royal Anglican with great empathy and if you have ever disrespected the military before thinking your argument through (as I myself have done in the past) this series will shake a few of your supposed morals. There are some real heart breaking moments in this series, along with great moments of pride. No matter what your standing on war, this is a series not to be missed if you want to know more about the reality of modern conflict.

This series deserves a 5 just for the balls shown by everyone involved for allowing such a series to be made, and to such a great standard.

Tragic on several levels
Review date: 2008-04-25 Rating: 6 out of 10

I think this program delivers a powerful message, although not the one it intends. What's conspicuously absent is any sense of context, and thus we are presented with a string of escapades in which earnest and unquestionably brave young men are sent out looking for trouble and we have little sense of what they are trying to achieve. They gear up, drive across some treacherous bit of desert and then try to kill unseen foes lurking in the rubble of countless prior such engagements. It all looks completely arbitrary and pointless, and this detracts from the genuine human misery it inevitably entails. `It's a tragic waste of life', says one of the men to Kemp, and this is exactly how it appears in episode after episode.

The program pushes a very straightforward and sentimental message, which is that war is tragic. It's hardly journalism - it presents and defends no other thesis, choosing instead to milk the sentiment to the point of exploitation. It's reportage at best, but its raison d'etre is to sell subscriptions to 'the UK's premier non-terrestrial entertainment channel' and this constrains it in unfortunate ways. Any pretence that it shows the realities of the war in Afghanistan is quickly dispelled by the DVD's '15' rating, and this has the ethically dubious consequence that the action is depicted as exciting entertainment while the tragedy is referenced only obliquely through reminiscence and endless dewy-eyed interviews. There is also a rather insipid overtone, which is that it is only tragic when British people are killed.

I'm only vaguely aware of Ross Kemp from elsewhere, and while he bonds well with the men, his sincere manner and a competent interviewing style only partly mitigate a vacuous script and his annoying sing-song narration. Perhaps he deserves the kudos he has received for putting himself in harm's way in the pursuit of a good tale, although his ebullience at having `survived' various close calls undermines this by reminding us that for him, this is merely extreme sport. In one scene Kemp climbs up onto a roof to be shot at with RPGs, and then all but claps his hands with glee as the sniper next to him kills the grenadier. This scene, above all others, suggests how quickly decent men can lose the big picture and get sucked into the brutality of conflict.

As a TV show, it works moderately well because it's exciting, in a sanitised, gung-ho sort of way. It drags at times, but this probably reflects its origin as a weekly TV series and there are a few moments of genuine tension. But even if it manages to be somewhat thought-provoking, this is not the uncompromising documentary it claims to be. Ultimately it is let down by a poor narrative structure that invites a less sympathetic view of our forces than perhaps the producers intended or our soldiers deserve.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Ross Kemp

Creators:
Ross Kemp (Primary Contributor)

Recording label: 2 Entertain Video
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
EAN: 5014138602857
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2008-04-07
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 183 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2008

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