海角大神

The film 鈥淎ct of Valor,鈥� opening this weekend in theaters nationwide, is a fictional account of a potential terrorist attack on American soil using, as the press materials tout, 鈥渞eal-life鈥� active duty US Navy SEALs.

From high-altitude skydiving and live-ammunition gunplay, to rescues surreptitiously听launched from nuclear submarines, the film鈥檚 creators promise an 鈥渦nprecedented鈥� package of heroism and (admittedly fictionalized) filmmaking.

鈥淩eal people blended with actors 鈥� it鈥檚 created a new experience,鈥� says the film鈥檚 codirector Scott Waugh. He calls the project 鈥渢he听authentic听action film."

To this, however, some have raised a point of objection. Their objection is not necessarily the acting, which some have criticized as a bit stilted 鈥� understandable, perhaps, since Navy SEALs are many things, but not professional thespians.听

Rather it is: Given the secretive nature of special operations forces is the film simply too much information? It was, after all, the Navy鈥檚 SEAL Team 6 sent in to kill terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and, earlier this year, rescue an American hostage being held by Somali pirates.

Indeed, Pentagon officials say they have been fielding calls from concerned congressional staffers, wondering whether the movie might reveal sensitive tactics. Some within the special operations community have leveled the same critique 鈥� occasionally quite robustly 鈥� that perhaps Navy SEALs and their brethren are blithely courting too much media attention.

鈥淪ince the time when your wonderful team went and drug bin Laden out and got rid of him 鈥� and more recently when you went down and rescued the group in Somalia, or wherever the hell they were 鈥� they鈥檝e been splashing all of this all over the media,鈥� retired Lieutenant General James Vaught, a former Army Delta Force commander, charged as he publicly upbraided Adm. William H. McRaven, ninth commander of United States Special Operations Command, at a special operations conference earlier this month.听

鈥淣ow I鈥檓 going to tell you, one of these days, if you keep publishing how you do this, the other guy鈥檚 going to be there ready for you, and you鈥檙e going to fly in and he鈥檇 going to shoot down every damn helicopter and kill every one of your SEALs. Now, watch it happen. Mark my words 鈥� get the hell out of the media.鈥�

McRaven was sanguine, explaining that he鈥檚 not 鈥渙verly concerned鈥� about the film, which was distributed far more widely than the Navy envisioned when they first approached the production company five years ago. 鈥淣othing we鈥檙e displaying in there tips our sensitive tactics, techniques, and procedures,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he film company that produced this had a very collaborative effort with the Navy.

He recalled his own experience as a young officer, tasked to help with the film "Raise the Titanic,"听a film McRaven called "forgettable."听听听

Senior US military officials say that they hope this latest cinematic effort will be a valuable tool for bringing recruits 鈥� particularly minorities 鈥� into the elite force. 鈥淚t was initially started as a recruiting film, so that we could help recruit minorities into teams,鈥� says McRaven.

The command established a platoon of eight Navy SEALS just for the film, 鈥渢o do the recruiting piece, which we do routinely,鈥� McRaven says. The team is comprised of white, Latino, and black troops.

At a screening Thursday night in Washington, D.C., a group of students from Howard University, a traditionally African-American college, watched the film. At one point, a SEAL in danger receives vital supporting fire from one of his comrades in arms. 鈥淲as that the black guy鈥� who saved him? asked one of viewers after the particularly harrowing scene.

While it may not convince him to join the force, Howard University undergraduate Bomani Buckhalter says that it brought to light some important behind-the-scenes military work 鈥渢hat not a lot of Americans get to see.鈥澨�

It is also the hope among military officials to highlight the service undertaken by an elite fraction of the less than one percent of all Americans who serve in the US military, in the decade since 9/11.听

The film, McRaven says, represents 鈥渁 balance between kind of showcasing our capabilities in hopes that we can keep up with our recruiting goals 鈥� and hopefully this movie will continue to improve our recruiting efforts 鈥� and also, again, showcasing a number of the 鈥榓cts of valor鈥� of these guys.鈥澨�