The Marine Corps says a new documentary shot by an active-duty videographer in 2011 shows possible criminal activity by Marines deployed in Afghanistan, with scenes of troops smoking hash and moving the body of a dead Afghan civilian to conceal it from locals.
“Combat Obscura” offers gritty, up-close, ground-level views of war through the lens of Lance Cpl. Jacob Miles Lagoze, then a combat photographer for the Marines and now a student at Columbia University’s film school. The movie has won critical plaudits for its visceral realism that departs from the antiseptic version of war curated by the Pentagon, which limits coverage of war dead and only in recent years allowed the recording of flag-draped containers used to bring bodies home from combat zones.
The trailer for the film, which Lagoze directed and produced using video he shot along with his fellow Marine cameraman Justin Loya, begins with scenes of Marines walking and Afghan children playing soccer interspersed with the words, “Our job was to shoot and edit videos for the U.S. Marine Corps. We filmed what they wanted.”
“Then, we kept shooting,” the on-screen graphic reads as the scene switches to a wounded troop being dragged to safety by his fellow Marines. Later in the trailer, smoke rapidly rises from a site as a Marine calls out, “That’s the wrong building!”
Not all the footage is of firefights, though. The camera pans over a sea of green plants as a Marine whispers, “Luckily for us, Afghanistan’s a hash farm.” A Marine is shown smoking cannabis out of a repurposed Pringles can. Other footage from the film shows Marines stuffing hash into cigarette papers. “One of the benefits of being in Afghanistan,” one says. “The only benefit of being in Afghanistan,” someone else adds, as Afghans, including a child, look on.
Another clip shows a Marine patrol examining the body of an Afghan shot by a sniper as a suspected spotter for the Taliban. “Just like a deer,” one Marine says as they turn over his body and discover he was unarmed. “This is no good for people to see,” a Marine says as they decide to roll his body in a rug and hide it from view.
Lagoze, who received the Purple Heart after he was wounded by a grenade in a firefight on that deployment to Helmand Province, left the service in 2013. His film was released last week in select theaters and online via video on demand.
For more than a year, the Marine Corps tried to stop the documentary from being released, arguing that at least some of the footage was filmed with Marine Corps equipment, during a Marine Corps deployment, and not cleared by any official authority, and therefore remained the property of the U.S. government.
Video and images produced by the government are generally free from copyright protections, however, remaining in the public domain unless classified for security reasons. Lagoze, not wanting to be accused of violating classification rules, submitted his material for security review.
The Marine Corps found instead that the footage revealed actions that reflected poorly on the Corps and may be evidence of crimes.
“The potentially criminal activity captured in the footage submitted for review is inexcusable and selfish, and endangered the security of the Marines in that unit,” said Maj. Brian Block, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon. “The Naval Criminal Investigative Service conducted a preliminary investigation after viewing Mr. Lagoze’s footage; unfortunately, the statute of limitations for pursuing disciplinary action has passed.”
The Marines say if anyone in the chain of command had been made aware of the actions captured on video during and after Lagoze’s deployment, the footage would have been turned over to NCIS.
“Obviously, any such alleged criminal activity or misconduct is not what we expect of our Marines, and had officials known about these activities in 2011-2012 they would have been thoroughly investigated,” Block said in an emailed statement.
“The behavior and actions depicted in this film do not live up to the high standards we expect of our Marines and do not represent the experience or attitudes of the vast majority of Marines who deployed and served with honor and distinction in Afghanistan,” said Block. “The actions depicted in the film of these few betrayed the trust and safety of their fellow Marines; they selfishly put their own self-interests over their unit, and by doing so put their entire team at risk.”
As for the Corps’ claim the rights to the video are owned by the government, not the former Marine videographers, Block said, “We do not plan to pursue any legal action against Mr. Lagoze at this time.”
Block also had a message for the troops assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, in 2011.
“We want the Marines in this documentary to get the help and assistance they and their families deserve to allow them to live well and become quality citizens,” Block said. “If they are unsure where to get that help, we are ready to assist them.”
