Above: Sam (Joseph Quinn), Ray (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) and Erik (Will Poulter)

The filmmakers' tool kit was emptied of music, plot devices, emotional tropes and jingoism. The sound track was just that - sounds.  The roar of a jet called in for a show of force.  Dogs barking.  Public announcements in Iraqi Arabic coupled with the urgent movement of the local residents seeking shelter become harbingers of battle. There are terse radio conversations between Seal units. As IEDs explode, the sound track changes to that muffled distant sound that we have all experienced after a percussive moment. Conversation between the warriors under fire are emotionless, because they are trained to contain "normal" responses to fear and stress.  The exception? Tommy.  Highly trained, this incident was Tommy's first experience under a life and death situation. We witness his struggle to apply his training.  One of the actors, during a PR interview, reported that the "real" Tommy, to this day, regretted some of his actions...or inactions...during that encounter.  By the way, many of the Seals involved in that hour and half of harrowing survival, are still in active service.  Their names were changed to protect them.

Ray Mendoza was overheard to say that if anyone comes away from this film thinking war is an adventure worth chasing, they must be crazy. Mendoza and Garland made Warfare, so that Mendoza's best friend, Elliott, could see what happened to him that day.  Elliott remembers nothing about the incident that put him a wheelchair for the rest of his life. That the film is an unforgettable immersion in the realities of 21st Century warfare is incidental.