|
Eye in the Sky
| Released |
15 April 2016 |
| Director |
Gavin Hood |
Starring
|
Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman, Bob Chappell, Barkhad Abdi, Phoepe Fox, Faisa Hassan, Aisha Takow, Armaan Haggio |
| Writer(s) |
Guy Hibbert |
Producer(s)
|
Ged Doherty, Colin Firth, David Lancaster |
| Origin |
United Kingdom |
| Running Time |
102 minutes |
| Genre |
Drama, thriller, war |
| Rating |
12A |
|
|
The drone wars.
Since the beginning of the digital age, the portrayal of warfare on screen has become more and more irrelevant. When one can watch actual footage from drone missile strikes on YouTube, the attempt to articulate the new horrors of modern war through fictional storytelling seems almost redundant. Eye in the Sky, directed by Gavin Hood deals brilliantly with this problem, focusing on one apparently simple drone mission and examining the complex moral decisions which need to be made behind this terrifyingly effective weaponry.
In a small house in Kenya, a meeting is taking place between several established Jihadis and a couple of new recruits. As they discuss their plans, they are unaware that they are being watched. A joint mission between American and British military forces has a drone positioned above them, controlled remotely from the Nevada desert by two marines (Aaron Paul and Phoebe Fox) and a man on the ground (Barkhad Abdi) keeping tabs on their movements. When the mission changes from capture to kill, those in charge (including Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman as top ranking British military figures) must decide whether the collateral damage to the innocent people of this Kenyan village can be justified for the sake of their mission.
First and foremost, Eye in the Sky is a ruthlessly effective thriller. Hood ensures that the pace never drops and the time pressure under which the mission is carried out is exaggerated by effective use of editing between boardrooms, military control rooms and the bird’s eye view of the drones. This is edge of your seat, entertaining filmmaking but it is also cleverly complex. No one character is singled out as the sole protagonist, meaning that the audience can choose sides in this moral minefield. The subtle performances given by all involved (including a suitably understated final performance from Rickman) mean that the film never descends into sentimentality and feels realistic and prescient. An exciting and thoughtful look at the difficult decisions faced in a war that lacks a battlefield.
-
Linda O’Brien |
