‘Dogwatch’ Review: An Alluring Abstract of Seafaring Mercenary Life

Dennis Harvey
·4 min read

Paramilitary private security companies have been increasingly in the news for at least a couple decades, seldom in a good way. The figures who take center stage in “Dogwatch” do not seem to fit the sinister side of the “mercenary” mold, however, much as they may look the part. Gregoris Rentis’ nonfiction first feature offers an absorbing if somewhat abstract look at three men variously employed as maritime guards — hired guns protecting ships in dangerously waters, particularly those not long ago beset by Somali pirates.

Flirting with fiction genre conventions within the documentary form, this sometimes arresting, erratically revealing film often most closely recalls minimalist dramatic explorations of martial masculinity like “Beau Travail” and “Jarhead.” It provides scant intel on the industry the protagonists serve, or even insight into their own individual lives. But as a sort of impressionistic triptych probing the daily realities of a singular (though no longer rare) career path, “Dogwatch” is always intriguing, and often surprisingly poetical.

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An initial onscreen text informs us that the piracy which terrorized Somali territorial waters in the early 2000s (leading to depictions in movies such as “Captain Phillips” and “A Hijacking”) is “less of an immediate danger today,” though ships crossing the erstwhile High Risk Area “still employ armed guards — just in case.” Not explained is that patrols devised by a multinational task force drastically reduced the threat. It is noted at one point that the greater hazard now comes not from pirates seeking ransom, but terrorists sowing “chaos on the high seas” as a consequence of the civil war in Yemen, which lies opposite Somalia on the Gulf of Aden’s north side.

Such explication is rare here, however, and we are particularly left without context in the first section. Babyfaced, brawny Yorgos is an apparent new hire still in bootcamp-like training when we meet him. Then he’s in Sri Lanka, housed dormitory-style with fellow guards, clubbing with locals and otherwise killing time while awaiting his first real assignment.

After 20 minutes, the focus shirts to Costa, an older, seasoned, in-peak-fitness veteran who with two more is providing security for a large commercial vessel. Even with actual risk much diminished, they operate on full alert through the HRA, keeping 24-hour watches and utilizing crew members to run emergency combat scenarios. Costa admits to one such sailor that he might soon be ready for a “normal” life on land at home.

No longer just pondering that possibility is middle-aged Victor, the director’s uncle. He tells a company official he is “a little tired” and would like to continue his work now in the Athens office, close to wife and son. Still, he’s keeping his hand in by training a new recruit, drill-sergeant style. After decades in a professional state of being “on the edge,” one suspects he may find it difficult transitioning into the relative tranquility of civilian life. Indeed, a colleague dubbed Big Guy seems to reflect a general nostalgia for the excitement of pirate days, sighing, “The thing missing now is the action.”

Rentis is much attuned to the physicality of men whose bodies are, like their weaponry, kept in a condition fit to pass surprise inspection — or attack. There’s a kind of implied character arc to the three sections, with Yorgos the newbie eager to be challenged, Costa a perfect coiled spring already tested many times over, and Victor aging out yet probably not quite willing or able to fully surrender what he calls “my way of life.”

Just what that way entails is a fascinating subject whose secrets “Dogwatch” does little to disclose. But if the practical, political and psychological demands of this job remain obscure, the film does make that semi-mystery compelling. Without either romanticizing or debunking, Rentis heightens both the torpor and tension these quasi-soldiers endure via various stylistic gambits. They range from slo-mo imagery accompanied by Schubert to an agitated First Person Shooter-type perspective, in both cases depicting practice combat. Thomas Tsiftelis’ widescreen cinematography leans toward the elegiac in oft-beautiful compositions, while English musician Matthew Barnes aka Forest Swords’ original score adds a spectral flavor.

When this short feature ends with a long, questionably relevant shot of porpoises leaping ahead of a large ship, it provides a suitable capstone: Something that supplies none of the informative insight we might desire, but is nonetheless so striking and potent on its own terms, the viewer feels rewarded anyhow.

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