It’s been almost a decade now since George W. Bush called up the National Guard to serve in Iraq, and the topic of this so-called back-door draft hasn’t exactly been all over the multiplex. Nor are there many movies that present desertion as a morally justifiable, even courageous choice.
In “Allegiance,” which takes place over 24 hours in 2004, director Michael Connors never has a single character breathe a word of belief in the war, and that silence is the loudest thing in the film. Guard Lieutenant Danny Sefton (Seth Gabel) has wangled a plum transfer to a p.r. unit in Albany as his unit is set to deploy to Iraq. Sefton knows the men despise him for it, and when ace medic Reyes (Shad “Bow Wow” Moss) is denied a compassionate exemption to be with his dying son, Sefton sees a chance for redemption in helping Reyes escape.
The plot ticks along steadily, if predictably; but we’ve often seen these soldiers before. Here’s the scrounger, the hothead, the faultless officer, and the go-along-get-along Sefton himself, who abruptly transitions to Reyes’ knight. There are interesting themes, but they feel more urgent and real than the characters. “Allegiance” works better as a way of reminding us who does the fighting in this age of outsourcing than it does as a human drama.