Allegiance Blu-ray Review
Thriller with a Conscience
Reviewed by Michael Reuben, January 17, 2013
Allegiance is the rare film set against the background of the U.S. war in Iraq that successfully
sidesteps the political landmines that have crippled so many other efforts. It's also devoid of the
preachy tone that unavoidably creeps into even such laudable projects as
The Dry Land. Instead,
writer/director Michael Connors' accomplished first feature delivers a tense and effective chase
picture—Connors likens it to a prison escape film—where the motivations just happen to arise
out of circumstances surrounding the call-up of National Guard units to supplement the military
forces already deployed to the Middle East. Connors, himself a veteran, treats the responsibilities
of service with utmost sincerity, as do the many veterans who appear in
Allegiance, contributed
services behind the camera and/or supported the film financially. It's the film's authenticity, and
the respect accorded the good intentions of
every character, that make
Allegiance such
compelling viewing. It also doesn't hurt that Connors assembled a first-rate cast.
Connors had completed four years as an Army officer and started the graduate film program at
Columbia when 9/11 happened. He expected to be called back immediately, but when he wasn't,
he began work on a "thesis" short film. The film was based on an experience when a soldier
under his command announced that he intended to go AWOL. While Connors was working on
the short, he was suddenly activated through the "Inactive Ready Reserve" (or "IRR") program,
sometimes known as the "backdoor draft"—a program that generated so much adverse publicity
that the Army was forced to shut it down before Connors had to report. Instead, the Army asked
him to return to duty as a volunteer. After much agonized soul-searching, Connors declined.
All of these experiences and the contradictory feelings accompanying them eventually found
their way into the feature-length version of
Allegiance. Connor originally conceived the film as
an epic saga with lengthy sequences set in Iraq. Once he realized the near-impossibility of a first-time filmmaker raising the millions of dollars that
such
sequences would require, Connors reimagined the film as a claustrophobic thriller that plays out over twenty-four hours within the
confines of a single Army base. As is so often the case, less turned out to be more.
Allegiance opens with a teaser, in which a uniformed man is running wildly from an organized
pursuit at night. He takes shelter to catch his breath. Then the film winds back twelve hours.
The date is October 2004, and National Guard units, so-called "weekend warriors", are being
deployed to Iraq for tours of one year to eighteen months. Having never anticipated duty of such
duration, let alone in a foreign war zone far from their families and constantly at risk, the men are
unhappy with their situation. At Camp Sullivan, New York, deployment is imminent, and
everyone is preparing to leave, with the exception of Lt. Danny Sefton (Seth Gabel, familiar to
Fringe fans), an Army officer who is being transferred to a public affairs unit in Albany. Having
trained with Sefton for many months, the men under his command are deeply suspicious of the
timing of this transfer. Sefton's father is known to be politically well-connected, and everyone is
certain that he pulled strings for his son. Sefton, who is something of an operator, has stayed on
to oversee the deployment, and we watch him finagle the cream of the limited equipment from
the supply chief, Kraft (Jason Lew), for the benefit of the comrades he's leaving behind. In an
effort to placate them, he offers CDs, magazines, DVDs and snacks, but they still treat him like a
traitor.
(If the name "Sefton" sounds familiar, it's because that was the name of William Holden's
wheeler-deeler in Billy Wilder's
Stalag 17. He, too, was accused of being a traitor.
Writer/director Connors confirms in his commentary that he consciously named his main
character after Holden's.)
Sefton's captain, Angelo (
Nurse Jackie's Dominic Fumusa), feels particularly let down,
especially since command has yet to send a replacement. At the last minute, though, a
replacement arrives, and he has first-rate qualifications: Lt. Alec Chambers (an intense Pablo
Schreiber), a West Point graduate, Army ranger, and veteran of tours in both Iraq and
Afghanistan. Chambers has been reactivated through the IRR program, just as he was settling
into civilian life. As he and Sefton exchange information about the squad that Chambers will
now be commanding, their circumstances stand out in stark relief. Sefton has a fiancee with
whom, in his new position, he can settle into married life. Chambers was just beginning a
relationship with a woman, but he ended it as soon as he was called up to replace Sefton.
The conflict that turns the base upside down involves the unit's medic, Specialist Chris Reyes
(Bow Wow), whose civilian job is with the FDNY. Reyes's son has cancer, and by one physician's
prognosis, he will not live to see the end of his father's deployment abroad. With Lt. Sefton's
endorsement, Reyes has applied for "compassionate reassignment" to remain near his son, but on
the day before deployment, Colonel Owens (Aidan Quinn) denies the request. The company can't
spare their best medic, he says. With the base on lockdown, Reyes threatens to go AWOL and
asks for Sefton's help.
Much of
Allegiance intentionally plays like a prison escape movie, as Reyes does everything in
his power to get home to his son, with the assistance of many of his fellow soldiers. Among other
things, they lure their tough staff sergeant, Hart (Malik Yoba), into a poker game, where they let
him win hand after hand, so that he'll be distracted long enough not to notice Reyes's absence.
Cat-and-mouse games involving a supply convoy, locked fences, a tunnel under a viaduct and a
stand-off on a bridge add to the suspense.
The pursuit of Reyes is led by Chambers, who is the perfect man for the job, since his judgment
is unclouded by a prior relationship or personal feelings. (Indeed, Chambers had suggested
putting Reyes under guard, but Capt. Angelo rejected the recommendation.) For Chambers, the
world is simple: When called, you report. The personal price is irrelevant, and the integrity of his
values makes Chambers both admirable and an implacable adversary. One of the most intriguing
elements of
Allegiance is that there are no villains, only representatives of different choices, all
of them equally unpalatable. How each man deals with those choices defines who
he is. How the
institution deals with those men defines what
it is.
Allegiance Blu-ray, Video Quality
Allegiance was shot on the Red system by Daniel Vecchione, a regular on the independent film
scene in New York City. To soften the hard digital edges often associated with Red photography,
Vecchione used vintage lenses. The result, as reflected on Xlrator Media's 1080p, AVC-encoded
Blu-ray, is a detailed picture that is sharp but without the harshness that sometimes afflicts
digitally originated photography. Connors and Vecchione have framed their shots as much as
possible to create a sensation of claustrophobia. They like tight shots of groups of soldiers and
crowded interior spaces, where the crush of people and objects is inescapable. The Blu-ray's
black levels are good enough that, even when such spaces are dimly lit, shadow detail registers
clearly.
Connors and Vecchione have so desaturated
Allegiance that it is almost black-and-white. Bright
or saturated colors are nowhere to be seen, as if everything had already been suffused with a layer
of desert dust (or the sombre mood preceding deployment). The lack of color contributes to the
sense of confinement and may also be intended as part of the
homage to
Stalag 17.
The disc has been well-mastered, and the lack of major extras allows the 91-minute film to fit
comfortably on a BD-25, without artifacts.
