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Jul 23, 2014 By Austin Trunick Web Exclusive

Dan Krauss’ The Kill Team focuses on the legal proceedings following 2010’s Maywand District murders in Afghanistan. Five U.S. Army soldiers were charged with murdering three unarmed Afghan civilians and collecting their body parts as trophies; seven others were charged with participating in a cover-up. When the media caught wind of the crimes it was revealed that some of these soldiers referred to themselves as the “kill team,” and had planned out the murders ahead of time, going so far as to carry with them Taliban weapons they could later plant on a dead body so that their kills would appear justified. Photos showing smiling soldiers posing with their victims made public and the cases became an international new item.

It’s an terrible, inexcusable mark on our contemporary military history, and Krauss’s documentary does nothing to dull the horror surrounding the incidents. The Kill Team primarily focuses on Adam Winfield, a former specialist in the “kill team” platoon who was charged with one count of premeditated murder, and his family in the months leading in to his military trial. Winfield had tried to alert someone outside his group after the first murder occurred but was threatened with death when other members of his platoon found out.

The documentary also speaks with Specialist Justin Stoner, who is considered to be the whistleblower for the Maywand District incidents, and former-Specialist Jeremy Morlock, who pled guilty to involvement in all three murders and is now serving a 24-year sentence. It’s chilling to hear the young man talk candidly and openly about his actions alongside photos of his mutilated victims; even more so to hear him simply blame it on “the infantry mentality,” as if these murderous urges are part of a normal mindset.

www.killteammovie.com

Author rating: 8/10