Glimpse into secret world of the SEALS
Real-life Navy SEALS play the warriors in Act of Valor, which is a sort of extended recruitment video that shows these fearsome commandos at work — blasting away with hightech weaponry at “foreign nationals” — and at play, where they say things like, “It’s hotter than two rats screwing a wool sock.”
Actually, that’s about it for the play. The U.S. Navy’s Special Warfare Command approved Act of Valor, and the U.S. Navy is not in the habit of fooling around, my friend. Just ask Mr. Osama bin Laden.
Act of Valor thus comes to Canadian cinemas as a real oddity: a good oldfashioned American propaganda film except for, you know, the part where I said “good.” It’s also a glimpse into the secretive world of the SEALS, men who can do anything — rescue hostages, kill terrorists, save the free world — except act.
Things get more interesting when the eight men in the platoon — Chief Dave and Lieutenant-commander Rorke and so on, all identified only by first name — go into the field. Their fictional operation (“based on real acts of valor,” it says) is to retrieve a female CIA agent (Roselyn Sanchez) from the clutches of a terrorist group that has captured her in Costa Rica and is torturing her with an electric drill.
The operation is filmed with a documentary love for the details: co-directors Mike Mccoy and Scott Waugh, who are former stuntmen, even have their cast use live ammunition.
Some of the SEALS in Act of Valor pay the price for their heroism, just as some do in real life — a great, brave price.