War is ugly, and documentaries that cover them should reflect that.

All too often, though, the footage coming out of war zones like Afghanistan is carefully managed, especially by those who have a vested interest in portraying a certain narrative.

The likes of the Marines and the US Army put together well-choreographed videos (and some terrible rap videos) that tell one story, but on the ground, the truth is very different.

That truth is laid bare in a new doccie, Combat Obscura, directed by Miles Lagoze, a former U.S. Marine Corps cameraman. He spent a great deal of 2011 in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, embedded with the 6th Marine Regiment.

As the Daily Beast reports, you’re not getting the full picture on your TV screens back home:

Lagoze came home from Afghanistan with all the footage the Marine Corps doesn’t want the public to see.

Marines goofing around, bitching about the war, smoking weed, whining about the local population. Dying and mourning their dead.

It’s unpretentious, unflinching, unsentimental. And in structural terms, it’s utterly daring. Early on in production, Combat Obscura was shaping up to be a traditional documentary…But a conventional documentary couldn’t do justice to things Lagoze saw and suffered alongside fellow cameraman Justin Loya.

It’s a gritty, brutal, no holds barred account of life on the ground, and it’s riveting:

As everyone knows, there are no winners in war.

Combat Obscura debuted on March 15, and you can find it on iTunes and Amazon.

[source:dailybeast]