''Kajaki: The True Story'', released in North America as ''Kilo Two Bravo'', is a 2014 British

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

docu-drama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typi ...

film directed by Paul Katis in his feature debut, written by Tom Williams, and produced by Katis and Andrew de Lotbiniere. The plot is based on the

Kajaki Dam incident The Kajaki Dam Incident occurred on the 6 September 2006, when 4 Soviet anti-personnel mines, left over from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, were detonated by soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, British Army. One soldier was fat ...

, involving Mark Wright and a small unit of British soldiers positioned near the

Kajaki Dam The Kajaki Dam is one of the two major hydroelectric power dams of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. The dam is located on the Helmand River 100 miles (161 km) north-west of Kandahar and is operated by the Helmand and Arghandab Valle ...

, in

Helmand province Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering area. The province contains 13 ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Cast

* David Elliot as Mark Wright *

Mark Stanley Mark Robert Speight, known professionally as Mark Stanley, is an English actor. He portrayed Grenn in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones''. He is also known for his roles in the films ''Kajaki'' and '' Our Kind of Traitor'', and the series ''Dic ...

as Tug * Scott Kyle as Stu Pearson * Benjamin O'Mahony as Stuart Hale * Bryan Parry as Jonesy * Liam Ainsworth as Ken Barlow *

Ali Cook Ali Cook (also credited as Alistair Cook) is an English magician, actor and comedian originating from Yorkshire. Cook played Sgt. Paul McMellon in the feature film ''Kajaki'', which won the ''Producer of The Year Award'' at the 2015 British I ...

as Spud McMellon * Andy Gibbins as Smudge * Grant Kilburn as Alex Craig * John Doughty as Dave Prosser *

Jon-Paul Bell Jon-Paul Alexander Bell (born 13 February 1993) is an English actor. He is known for portraying characters in various soap operas including ''Emmerdale'', '' Doctors'' and '' Coronation Street''. In 2022, he joined the cast of the Channel 4 soa ...

as Luke Mauro *

Malachi Kirby Malachi Kirby is a British actor and writer. He gained prominence through his roles in the 2016 ''Roots'' remake and the ''Black Mirror'' episode " Men Against Fire". He earned a BAFTA for his performance in '' Small Axe'': ''Mangrove''. Early ...

as Snoop * Paul Luebke as Jay Davis * Ryan W. Sadi as Kyle Minchew * Robert Mitchell as Faz * Thomas Davison as Jarhead * Abe Dababneh as Kajaki Jon * Felipe Cabezas as Kajaki Mike * Hazem Alagha as Steven "Bombhead" Watson

Production

The film was shot on location at Al-Kafrein, Jordan, as a stand-in for Afghanistan.

Release

''Kajaki'' premiered on 12 November 2014 at London's Vue Cinema in Leicester Square and was attended by cast, crew and veterans. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 28 November 2014 and in the United States on 13 November 2015.

Reception

Box office

''Kajaki'' grossed $7,891 in the United States and Canada and $26,126 in other territories for a worldwide total of $34,017.

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

it has an approval rating of 100% based on 29 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's critical consensus states: "''Kilo Two Bravo'' honours its fact-based story with an almost unbearably tense drama that captures the horrors -- and the human cost -- of modern warfare."

Accolades

At the 2015 BAFTA Scotland Awards (ceremony 15 November 2015) David Elliot won as Best Actor in Film. At the 2015

British Independent Film Awards The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, ...

(ceremony 6 December 2015) Paul Katis (director/producer) and Andrew de Lotbinière (producer) won as

Producer of the Year The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical is an honor presented to record producers for quality non- classical music at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors i ...

for work on this film and were also nominated at the 2015 British Academy Film Awards (ceremony 8 February 2015) as Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kajaki 2014 films 2014 war drama films British war drama films Films set in Afghanistan Films shot in Jordan War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) films 2014 drama films 2014 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s British films