Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot (2016)

Taglines: From the headlines to the front lines.

2003. After careful consideration, Kim Baker, a news copywriter, decides to leave the relative comfort of a New York desk job and serious boyfriend Chris to accept the assignment to work for three months as on-camera reporter in war torn Afghanistan, as her news agency is looking for anyone within their ranks to fill immediately the empty voids overseas. Her only experience of being in such an environment is going through hostile zone training a few years earlier.

Immediately upon her arrival in Afghanistan, she realizes that she is ill-prepared emotionally for this assignment, not only enduring the dangers of the war itself, but also the conditions of everyday life, including largely been seen by men as only a “piece of ass” and a distraction despite her being considered average looking back home and not being overtly sexual, and being an individual with a small bladder who is nonetheless told to stay hydrated at all times.

She is largely assisted in navigating this new life by Tanya Vanderpoel, a fellow female western correspondent, and Fahim Ahmadzai, her Afghan translator guide. As time goes on, Kim finds that she not only may have a specific and important voice within the press corps, but that she may be losing touch with her life back in the States for good or bad. In addition, she will have to decide how much she is willing to risk, not only for herself but that for her colleagues, to get that next important story.

She also has to figure out how much of what she does truly is her, and how much is being as she and the other western press corps members state is being in the “Kabubble”. What may also affect her life is how much the war in Afghanistan is overtaken by other world events for which the American public is wanting information, and thus if Afghanistan has a specific time span in her life regardless of how much she may want to stay to tell what she sees as its important stories.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, based on the memoirs of Kim Barker, a TV news journalist who ended up covering the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Tina Fey plays Kim Barker, and when she gets there she meets one of the only other women covering war, played by Margot Robbie. The cast includes Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, Josh Charles, Sheila Vand and Christopher Abbott, which is an impressive line-up for this film.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, originally titled The Taliban Shuffle and Fun House, is an American comedy war film directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, and written by Robert Carlock, based on the memoir The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Kim Barker. The film stars Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Christopher Abbott, Billy Bob Thornton, Alfred Molina, Nicholas Braun, and Sheila Vand. It will be released on March 4, 2016 by Paramount Pictures.

Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot

Directed by: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Starring: Margot Robbie, Tina Fey, Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thornton, Alfred Molina, Ava Del Cielo, Evan Jonigkeit, Julianne Medina
Screenplay by: Robert Carlock
Production Design by: Beth Mickle
Cinematography by: Xavier Grobet
Film Editing by: Jan Kovac
Costume Design by: Lisa Lovaas
Set Decoration by: Lisa K. Sessions
Art Direction by: Derek Jensen
Music by: Nick Urata
MPAA Rating: R for pervasive language, some sexual content, drug use and violent war images.
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: March 4, 2016

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