Chris Terrill
Award winning documentary filmmaker Chris Terrill took on his most dangerous mission last year when he joined the 42 Commando Royal Marines on the front line in Afghanistan.
Nade e Ali is regarded as one of the most dangerous square miles in the world as the Marines face not only the Taliban but the IED’s that they leave behind.
I caught up with Chris to talk about Royal Marines: Mission Afghanistan and the time that he spent with the Marines on the front line.
- Royal Marines: Mission Afghanistan has kicked off on Channel 5 so for anyone who missed it can you tell me a little bit of what it's all about?
Yes I joined 42 Commando Royal Marines last summer as part of their six month deployment to Afghanistan. I joined them in Nad e Ali north, which is particularly vicious part of Helmand Province, where they were having to shut out the Taliban and deal not only with the insurgence but IED’s (improvised explosive devices).
It was a very dangerous part of Afghanistan and as a result seven Marines were killed and fifty plus were very badly injured so it was a very difficult place to operate.
I was privileged to be able to join them in this very dangerous area and I joined this one particular company, Lima company, and they were tasked with drawing the fire of the enemy and pulling the enemy away from this particular village, it was a village that the British forces were trying to develop and give back to the people.
In order to get on with the work the L Company had to almost become a red rag to the Taliban to draw their aggression and fire away from the village to allow it to be developed - so they became human bait essentially and it was incredibly dangerous.
- The documentary sees you in the middle of the action as it were so how comfortable were the soldiers in having you around and filming what went on?
I have trained with the Royal Marines for many years and I have been to Afghanistan many times with the Royal Marines so they know me.
I like to think that they trust me and they are certainly confident that I won’t get in the way but they are a very welcoming bunch, once they get to know you there is not better bunch of blokes to be with. I like to think that they were happy to have you around.
- So where did the idea for the documentary come from - I know that you have filmed many military based documentaries in the past?
As you say I have done a lot of work in the past with the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines particularly and so I have got to know them very well.
So when I heard that the 40 Commandos and the whole brigade of the Royal Marines was going out to Afghanistan last year I made it clear that I would like to go along for the ride.
I didn’t quite know what I was getting myself into but then you never do but they were like ‘come along Chris’ and when I got there they were confident enough to let me go right to the front line with them - which is where the best stories are.
- In the first episode you were filming where IED's were rife so how did you feel going out on patrol knowing that one could go off at any moment?
You have to put that out of your mind or you wouldn’t put one step in front of the other so you have to be as confident as you can in the drills of the Marines to get you through - but you also know that it’s not a 100% guarantee that you will come through safely.
So every step is a risk and every foot forward is a gamble but you just deal with it and put it out of your mind the best that you can - I got on with my filming and concentrated on my work and tried not to think about the consequences.
But that is no different to the Marines themselves as they go out there more regularly than I do and they run that risk every single day. And sadly that is mostly what accounted for the seven boys that were killed and the very many more than lost legs and arms and were blinded and brain damaged.
It’s turned into a very nasty war because the insurgents know that they cannot win in a straightforward fight so they are now resorting to the terrorist tactics of suicide bombers and IED’s. Of course, the important thing is, an IED will be detonated by something or somebody whether it be a donkey, a Royal Marine or a Taliban farmer it doesn’t differentiate.
So it’s not only Marines that are killed and maimed it’s Afghan children and farmers - it’s a nasty place to operate and I am grateful that I came through without a scratch.
- The soldiers try to put that to the back of their mind clearly it is something that they must think about so what was the feel amongst the Marines that you were with? Were they an up-beat sort of bunch?
They are very upbeat, it’s very important to keep moral up, and the Marines they have a saying ‘cheerfulness in the face of adversity’ and they keep to that - that is the central ethos to the way that they work.
They have an incredible moral even in the face of the risk and in the face of the knowledge that their friends have been killed or maimed. The boys that I were with many of them had lost close friends and they took it on board in their own way and got on with the job at hand and resort to humour, sometimes it’s quite black humour, but it’s humour that gets you through the day.
These lads were operating in what has been described as the most dangerous square mile in the world and if you are going to keep thinking about ‘oh my god what if things go wrong?’ you wouldn’t go anywhere.
You just have to put that out of your mind and be confident in the fact that you have had the best training that any soldier in the world can have - the Royal marine is an elite soldier so the training kicks in.
But that doesn’t guarantee any Marine against the possibility of death in these circumstances. But they are incredible guys and that is all I can say.
- You are well known for not shooing with a crew so why do you choose to film your documentaries this way?
Because I embed very deeply and immerse myself in other communities and other worlds, in this case it is the Royal Marines, but I work exactly the same way if I was working in a jail or theatre, which I have done, in anybody’s world that I trying to introduce myself into and gain the trust of those people - I find it much easier to operate as just me.
They only have to deal with me and not three or four or a crew. If you go in with a crew there is a tendency that you create an us and them situation - where if it’s just me I can be a professional chameleon and I will change according to what is required of me; I will become a Royal Marine to fit in.
I am an anthropologist, that is what I use to do, I lived with African tribes and to do the work that I had to do I had to adopt the perceptions of the African tribes, not that I became a tribesman, but I would try to see the world from their point of view and it’s much easier for them to share their world with me if it’s just me rather than if I am there with a huge bunch of people.
But also when you are working on the front line you want to become the least possible burden because you become a liability - if they are having to look after a bunch of media types then they are not concentrating on what they have got to do. But if it’s just me, also I have trained with the Marines; I am less of a liability.
- We see all the footage of the Afghan war had have done for the last ten years but how did you opinion of the war change whilst you were over there and seeing it first hand?
When I first went out it was the land of bombs and bullets there was stand up fighting and hand to hand fighting all over Helmand Province. But that has changed significantly and there is not nearly as much fighting now.
There are whole areas of Helmand Province that are peaceful now and that are being developed by the British military and the Americans. I think people might be surprised at just how much progress has been made in Afghanistan as we near the deadline of 2014 when we pull out all together.
Having said that there are these hornets nests and these blisters of interaction, such as the one that I was at, and these little pockets of resistance are very nasty because they are so heavily mined with IED’s - that is the big difference now.
Although huge amounts of progress has been made, I wouldn’t want to portray Afghanistan as a war torn country any more, but there are areas where it is very nasty and that is what the Royal Marines, and other regiments, are going in to sort out.
- Back in 2007 you participated in the eight month training to be a Royal Marine so can you tell me a little bit about that and the difficulties that you faced?
The Royal Marine training is the longest basic military training in the world and it culminates in the Commandos test, which you have to pass to win your green beret.
At the time I was following a troop of recruits and I thought that the best way to know what was going through their heads, what they were dealing with, the challenges and the pressure was to do it myself - not thinking that I would see it through.
But once the bit is between your teeth and you become part of a troop and part of a team you just want to crack on and finish it. It kind of got hold of me and I was determined to push through as far as possible.
I was an awful lot older than everybody else, I was fifty five then and the lads were seventeen or eighteen, so it was quite a big challenge but I had always kept myself pretty fit so that helped. But also I had tremendous support from the lads themselves and the physical training instructors, who are now some of my best friends; they were very supportive and encouraging,
So through a combination of a lot of hard work and sweat and an awful lot of luck, because I didn’t get injured, I managed to pull it off. So I was given my honorary Green Beret which is my most treasured possession to this day.
But it was also, as I have said before, a passport to the world of the Royal Marines as I feel now I can stand up and look them in the eye, this incredible breed of men, and that they can accept me as one of their own.
- You have made many documentaries over the years so what is it about this form of film that you enjoy so much?
At the end of the day I am just a bloke and I enjoy an adventure and the buzz and the crack of it. It’s very exhilarating, it’s sometimes quite scary, the adrenaline is pumping through your veins when you are doing this sort of thing and I suppose that I am addicted to it.
But it’s a huge privilege, I don’t take my job lightly, and to have people to invite me into their world it’s an honour and a privilege to be invited into anyone’s world and so I am very keen to portray that world in the best way that I can.
- Finally what's next for you?
I’m not sure at the moment but there are a number of things that I am looking at, some of them are a little top secret at the moment. But I think I have got an exciting story to tell out in Libya and it’s to do with the Special Forces. So I am planning to go out to Libya to tell a very unique about the Special Forces.
"Royal Marines: Mission Afghanistan is on Mondays at 9pm on Channel 5"
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw