The always dangerous but sometimes amusing life of an embedded female war reporter gave comedic actress Tina Fey a chance to flex her acting chops in a film inspired by a real journalist’s saga.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Paramount Home Entertainment, Rated R, $39.99, 112 minutes) gets its Blu-ray debut to give home theater owners the chance to appreciate the real career of Kim Barker, a news copy writer who transformed into a tough-as-nails correspondent while spending over three years covering the war-torn and very unstable Afghanistan.
Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa craft her chaotic daily routine as she attempts to adjust to a male-dominated, culturally backwards society and also not step on too many toes with the U.S. military.
Ms. Fey’s costars Margot Robbie as reporter Tanya Vanderpoel, Martin Freeman as photojournalist Iain MacKelpie, Christopher Abbott as Afghan escort Fahim Ahmadzai and Billy Bob Thornton as marine Brigadier Gen. Hollanek supply the steady dose of witty banter between the explosions, ambushes and nightly, fraternity-like parties.
The full-screen digital transfer (1.85:1-aspect ratio) presents the chance to admire the gorgeous mountainous landscapes and panoramic sunsets from not Afghanistan but sets in New Mexico and Morocco. I appreciated the clarity of an outstanding nighttime rescue mission by the Marines.
The disc extras offer a sweeping look at the production with plenty of face time for Miss Barker. They are broken into five featurettes (roughly 35 minutes total) along with four deleted scenes and an extended cut of Mr. Ahmadzai’s wedding.
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Best, and the longest segment, touches on the cast gushing about Ms. Fey’s performance while the directors continual stress that they wanted to create realistic portrayal of the Afghanistan people and culture.
Most intriguing revelations in this featurette are the use of five tons of dust to dirty up the actors and locations and turning part of the Santa Fe prison into the Kabul airport.
• Joseph Szadkowski can be reached at jszadkowski@washingtontimes.com.
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