By Libby Stefanich

“Soldiers in Truck,” Diego González, published October 22, 2019, via Unsplash

Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s combat film Megan Leavey is based on the true story of a Marine Corps officer who forges an unbreakable bond with a German Shepard K-9 named Rex. The film shows that Leavey is struggling with depression and an unsupportive family system after her best friend passed away from an overdose, causing her to join the Marines. The film heavily focuses on her relationships with Rex rather than war, bringing out the common themes of loyalty and self-discovery as Rex and Megan both learn how to truly love and trust others.

Leavey is the main protagonist, and she faces many obstacles with internal conflicts, romantic relationships, Rex, and war. Leavey is often motivated by the fact that she lost her friend; she shares this with Matt Morales, one of her love interests, and this is the first time audiences have seen her explain her story a bit more, allowing them to grasp why she left her life behind. The largest motivator for Megan is keeping Rex alive and building a strong relationship with him; she doesn’t ultimately give up when searching for more IEDs after triggering the explosive, leading her to complications with PTSD, body pains, memory and hearing loss, and resigning from the Marines. After resigning, she faces difficulty adopting Rex due to his adoptability status, but instead she creates a petition in order to officially adopt him. Megan’s perspective restricts the film’s narration, which begins with a voiceover explaining her current life situation.

The film’s opening sequence, in which she recounts her life’s setbacks, employs blue hues to mirror her emotions. For instance, the low-exposure shots of her lying in her bedroom, with only natural lighting from her small window, feature a blue color grading with a green tint, a hue that extends to her lava lamp and the bedroom walls. Subsequently, when she is in the military focusing on something other than her deceased friend, the color grading has an orange-yellow hue. For example, whenever she is with her love interest, Morales, the lighting is often warmer. In the scene where she opens up to him about her past, the orange lighting hits both of their faces, especially his; this shows that his character has good intentions with Leavey, and his emotions are truthful, as he is a part of the reason she learns how to love. The diegetic sounds in this film play a large part in adding verisimilitude; they increase the real environment of living on a military base: explosions from a distance, guns firing, dogs barking, people yelling, distant cries, which are all sound conventions of combat films. Moments of war submerge the non-diegetic sounds, increasing the intensity of the action.

Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s intention for the film was to spotlight the true story of the relationships between Megan Leavey and Rex; she may have acknowledged that many audiences adore the trope of a human and dog relationship, where it’s difficult to actually obtain the dog, especially during 2017. Cowperthwaite may have found Leavey’s story inspirational and wanted to create a film about it. The explicit meaning of the film is that Megan Leavey’s journey in the military brings her a bond with Rex and the conflicts of war and marine corps. The film contains numerous implicit meanings, such as addressing specific dynamics that women may encounter in the military. Another one may be the difference between animal and human dynamics in the military compared to everyday life. The film stands out from other war films as it doesn’t heavily emphasize war, features a female protagonist, and avoids the typical combat film iconography of showing people killed.

Megan Leavey (pg-13) dir. Gabriela Cowperthwaite (2017); 176 mins.