Warfare, which hits cinemas today, is being hailed by critics as one of the best new war films since Dunkirk and 1917.
The hyperrealistic movie is co-written and directed by Ray Mendoza, a former Navy SEAL, recreating his platoon’s memories of a terrifying battle with jihadis during the Iraq War in November 2006.
At the end of the film, several real-life vets, including survivors with life-altering injuries, are shown behind the scenes on set helping guide the actors portraying them.
During the credits, pictures of the real men are placed against the stars playing them, but many of them are blurred out. Here’s why.
According to Warfare’s Production Notes: “Photographs of the SEALs who participated in the Ramadi operation appear over the film’s credit sequence opposite the actors who played them. Faces of the real-life SEALs were blurred for various reasons; some former SEALs requested privacy, could not be located, or did not want to reveal their faces because they are in active service in the present day. Through the credits sequence the filmmakers also sought to present Elliott Miller on both sides of his combat experience, to show the devastating effects of warfare on one person in particular and how revisiting the operation that left him permanently scarred could also provide catharsis and closure.”
Warfare is out now in UK cinemas.