Joel’s review of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016)

It’s been two months but I finally finished watching Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. The 2016 film was adapted from the book The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a memoir by U.S. journalist Kim Barker about her experiences reporting in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and published in 2011.

Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels produced the film, and Fey stars in the film as Kim Baker, a cable news producer who decodes to become a war reporter in 2002. She heads to Kabul, and slowly transforms while living in the “Ka-Bubble”. Living in guarded guest quarters, she meets various soldiers while being embedded, fraternizes with the various ex-pats and other journalists, and keeps searching for her next big story. 

The film is interesting to a degree, because you see Afghanistan as this entirely different world, and the American soldiers who were off living and fighting in this forgotten war that the American people lost interest in. I was interested in watching the Kim Baker character adjust to life in this crazy dangerous world as her normal office environment. The supporting cast is also interesting – Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thornton, Christopher Abbott, and Alfred Molina.

After finishing the film, I’m still not sure if there was a message or theme to the film. It helped you realize that Afghanistan the troops that America sent over were forgotten over time. It was a semi-interesting story about Kim Barker / Kim Baker in her time working in Kabul. The film also briefly touches upon life for women in Afghanistan, but very lightly. I don’t think there was an big message. At times it was serious, while at other times it was comedy. A little odd. It was a little all over the place. 

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016)

This entry was posted in Entertainment and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *