Is Guy Ritchie's The Covenant Based on a True Story? (2024)

The bonds between fellow soldiers can seldom be broken, and that's the message at the heart of Guy Ritchie's The Covenant. The film examines this crucial message through the lens of the relationship between an American soldier, John Kinley (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), and his interpreter, Ahmed (played by Dar Salim).

Released to a healthy amount of critical acclaim in April 2023, Guy Ritchie's The Covenant feels so real, so visceral, and so prescient that many who have watched it wonder the same thing: Is this film that feels so real, based on a true story? The answer to that question isn't precisely cut and dry, as the sacrifices and consequences displayed throughout the film are accurate, even if the specific characters are not.

What Is Guy Ritchie's The Covenant About?

Betrayal and Brotherhood

Looking to raise awareness of the plight of international interpreters and their often complicated, if not outright fraught, relationship with their American soldier counterparts, Guy Ritchie fashioned a story that focuses on a U.S. Green Beret named John Kinley serving in Afghanistan in 2018. When Kinley finds himself wounded during a skirmish with the Taliban at an IED factory, an Afghan interpreter working with the U.S. military named Ahmed heroically gets him to safety.

Ahmed has been promised international visas for himself and his family in recognition of his many sacrifices throughout his service. Unfortunately, that promise is soon broken. The U.S. government betrays Ahmed and forces him to flee underground. Soon after recovering, Sergeant Kinley learns that Ahmed has been left to fend for himself as the Taliban hunt him and his family. He demands the U.S. Government do something to help, but bureaucracy gets in the way, forcing Kinley to take action himself.

Sergeant Kinley returns to Afghanistan as a one-person rescue crew, utilizing his military know-how and might to pull off an unsanctioned extraction mission. Kinley vows to honor the original promise made to Ahmed by the U.S. government to get the interpreter and his family out. The question then becomes whether he can do so before the Taliban close in on their position and wipe everyone out. In the interest of not spoiling anything, Kinley and Ahmed's fate won't be mentioned here, but the film ends on a sober note, pointing to the realities of the situation, reading,

Is Guy Ritchie's The Covenant Adapted From a True Story?

Though Guy Ritchie's The Covenant has been adapted from a series of actual events, the specific characters and scenarios the film explores are not true. Instead, the film has been based on the collective experiences of hundreds of Middle Eastern interpreters and U.S. soldiers who have experienced warfare in Afghanistan.

The Covenant is an original screenplay co-written by Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson, and Marn Davies, who previously collaborated with Ritchie on films such as The Gentleman, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, and Wrath of Man. None of those films were ever rooted in historical events, but for The Covenant, Ritchie and his team were inspired to inform audiences of the persistent problem confronted by interpreters in their quest to aid the American government.

While promoting The Covenant during its release window, Guy Ritchie explained that he and his co-writers watched several documentaries about Afghanistan and found themselves struck by the powerful bonds forged by the interpreters and their counterparts in the American military. Many interpreters were promised visas for themselves and their families after sacrificing much to aid the American mission. However, after the U.S. military withdrew in 2021 after decades of conflict, many of those promises were broken, and the interpreters left behind to fend for themselves. Ritchie and his writers were so moved by this plight that they felt compelled to tell the story.

As such, Guy Ritchie's The Covenant spotlights the unbreakable bonds between two soldiers during battle, even if they come from opposite walks of life. By revealing how the U.S. government has gone back on its word to help those who once helped them, Ritchie hopes to raise awareness of this disastrous choice and prevent it from happening again.

Was Jake Gyllenhaal's Character Based on a Real Person?

In Guy Ritchie's The Covenant,superstar Jake Gyllenhaal portrays Sergeant John Kinley. Kinley isn't a real person, but his character was inspired by countless soldiers in the U.S. military who have worked alongside interpreters and formed close bonds of brotherhood with their Afghani counterparts.

When asked what spoke to him about this role and why he chose to pursue it, Jake Gyllenhaal told the press that he was interested in exploring the dynamics of two men with no natural bond but instead who have been thrown together like an arranged marriage.

Was Dar Salim's Character Based on a Real Person?

Much like Jake Gyllenhaal's performance as Sergeant John Kinley in Guy Ritchie's The Covenant, Dar Salim's role of Ahmed was based on numerous examples of real-life people, but not one in particular. Unlike Gyllenhaal, however, Salim was able to draw from some actual wartime experiences to help bring his character to life.

More specifically, Dar Salim tapped into his parents' flight from Baghdad in the '90s, embarking on a new life in Denmark. Reliving this critical moment in his own life, Salim could easily sympathize with the desperation of Ahmed and his family during such a tumultuous time in their lives.

Why Did Guy Ritchie Tell a Fictional Story Instead of a True One?

Guy Ritchie's The Covenant is based on true-to-life experiences, but notably, it isn't adapted from any specific one. The question is, with countless examples of such stories already existing, why did Ritchie decide to make up one? When asked that exact question by the press during the promotional period of the film, Ritchie explained,

In other words, Guy Ritchie hoped that by devising his simplified narrative, the central message at the heart of the film would resonate all the more clearly. Whether it was the right decision (or not) is up for debate, but Ritchie's intentions were in the right place. This underrated film tells a captivating story that raises some much-needed awareness about the real-life exploitation of Middle Eastern interpreters, the aftermath of which is still being felt today.

The fact that Guy Ritchie was able to create a film like this one while (largely) restraining himself from his more hyper-stylized tendencies as a filmmaker is a notable one. Moreover, in a few years, it will be interesting to find out if Guy Ritchie's The Covenant signaled a shift in this popular director's career or whether it will be considered an outlier.

Guy Ritchie's The Covenant

R

Action

Drama

War

Where to Watch

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*Availability in US

Director

Guy Ritchie

Release Date

April 21, 2023

Cast

Jake Gyllenhaal , Dar Salim , Antony Starr , Alexander Ludwig , Sean Sagar , Bobby Schofield , Emily Beecham , Jonny Lee Miller

Writers

Ivan Atkinson , Marn Davies , Guy Ritchie

Runtime

123 Minutes

Main Genre

Thriller

Budget

$55 Million

Studio(s)

STXfilms , Toff Guy Films

Distributor(s)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer