Allegiance Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Allegiance Blu-ray Movie 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 Movie, 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.

Allegiance Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

When Connors abandoned his original idea for scenes set in Iraq, he gave up many opportunities for spectacular sound design, but subtle possibilities remained. The sounds of the base are always in the distance and frequently in the surrounds: helicopters flying; vehicles traveling; voices; and, in at least one instance, card players shuffling, dealing and trash-talking just down the hall and to the right. Dialogue is always clear, and the musical score, credited to four different composers, strikes the right note of urgency.

Allegiance Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Writer/Director Michael Collins, Producer Sean Mullin and Actor Seth Gabel: This is an engaging and informative commentary with a good balance of background on the development of the project and description of the production process. Of particular interest is how the filmmakers, most of whom had significant military experience, went about achieving authenticity in the smallest details, despite the lack of official support from the U.S. military. Collins also describes the situation he confronted as a commanding officer when a soldier announced his decision to go AWOL; the incident inspired the short film entitled Recalled that was later expanded into Allegiance.



• The Making of Allegiance (1080p; 1.78:1; 4:59): This is a brief but informative EPK featuring interviews with Gabel, Collins, Schreiber and Bow Wow.



• Trailer (1080p; 2:35; 2:09): "War begins before deployment."



• Additional Trailers: At startup the disc plays trailers for We the Party and 96 Minutes. These can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

Allegiance Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Allegiance lures the viewer into its world with the simple mechanics of Specialist Reyes's predicament: How can he get off the base? Where can he hide? Who will help him? How can he rendezvous with the relative who is coming to pick him up? As a director, Connors takes the time and demonstrates the skill to make these logistics interesting and suspenseful. He has enough faith in both his material and his actors to let the larger questions raised by the specialist's decision unfold on their own, as those around Reyes are forced to react and choose a side. In the last twenty minutes of the film, as tempers flare and violence erupts, questions of duty and sacrifice that are so often debated in the abstract become all too real. Lives hang in the balance, and no one has even left America yet. Highly recommended.