Tropic Sprockets / Megan Leavey

By Ian Brockway

Gabriela Cowperthwaite,  director of the scathing documentary “Blackfish” has a potent feature film debut with “Megan Leavey.” This gripping true story focuses on the bond between a soldier dog and his partner. While it is highly charged and emotional, it is by no means a sob story. This film underscores the very concrete and tangible reality of our bond with canines. Such stories are not often handled without overly heavy melodrama or the wringing of tissues. To its great credit, “Megan Leavey” is as much of an adventure story as it is an account of an intimate friendship and it is wonderfully honest.

Leavey (Kate Mara) is a somewhat passive young woman grieving the death of her best friend from an overdose. Most of the time she stays hidden in her room at odds with her mom (Edie Falco). Actor Bradley Whitford also appears as a blighted but caring father.

One day Leavey wakes up wanting more, thinking of the US Marines.

She wants to see the world.

After becoming a soldier, she gets drunk and urinates behind the military offices. Leavey  is promptly chastised by Sergeant Gunny (Common) and ordered to clean the military dog kennels.

While duly servicing the cubicles, her eyes are drawn to the very sensitive looking  Rex, a bomb sniffer. She moves to him but the dog reacts aggressively in shocking loud barks. Though shaken, Leavey cannot get the dog out of her mind.

The private then takes part in a training exercise where she assumes the role of a combatant and Rex grabs hold of her bottom, reluctant to let go.

Later during a rest exercise, Rex bites his handler’s hand, breaking the fingers. It is evident that the soldier dog has issues.

Despite this, Rex is calmer under Leavey’s gaze. Leavey badly wants to handle a military dog and after doing a few mandatory exercises, Gunny approves a pairing with Rex.

The two become inseparable, calming one another in times of stress. Leavey and Rex shared  two tours in Iraq where they executed IED detection and endured considerable combat injuries.

The magnetism of this film comes from its feeling and honesty and its treatment of the soldier Rex who is equal to his human partner and friend, Cpl. Megan Leavey. Both soldiers have behavioral issues and the two emerge to be more than a “Dynamic Duo” of the Pop Art realm. The two of them are solid and earthy heroes with all of the bruises and hardships that are part of life.

This is no “Old Yeller” or “Rin Tin Tin” heartwrencher. Rather it is a study of a relationship and the give and take between two unique beings. While the film does have swellings of heroism and bravado, this story is refreshingly real. After your heart soars from the crowd at Yankee Stadium, “Megan Leavey” will have you meditating upon the incredible bond these two soldiers had for one another. The deep-hearted thoughts that most will have in seeing this film will stay with

Write Ian at [email protected]

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