EYE IN THE SKY  3.2***

    In this modern time, western governments try to avoid boots on the ground in favor of aerial drones for surveillance and missile attacks. This film successfully shows the human cost to the soldiers and civilians involved in the process of executing drone attacks knowing there almost always will be “collateral damage” ( civilian deaths)
 

The movie  unfolds over a few hours when Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) and Lt. Col. Frank Benson (the late Alan Rickman) must convince their political masters to change a 'capture' to a 'kill' mission when they unexpectedly get the opportunity to wipe out several top ranking terrorists in Nairobi, Kenya. After getting the necessary political and military approvals, a weak link opens up at the trigger pulling end of the chain of command when the drone pilot refuses to fire the missile after he  sees a young girl near the kill zone. It's a classic dilemma… do you save the girl and risk losing the opportunity to eliminate several really bad people who are being fitted with suicide vests that could kill hundreds of innocents?               

Mirren and Rickman are excellent in their roles. Both effectively portray the stresses and frustrations of working between the world of the professional soldier and that of the politician. This is not your standard war film and is more about the political dynamics of how war will be waged in the future.

It’s about balancing collateral damages versus the risk of inaction. The role of the military, the indecision and CYA attitude of the politicians, and the moral drama of the drone pilots, this film includes all that plus many other elements of the war on terrorism. And the way the plot unraveled makes it also a great thriller. Another dimension which is very well illustrated is the fantastic technology which we now have to combat terrorism.    

This film  is merely one episode in the war with the terrorists but is very revealing in its realism. The terrorist brutal tactics necessitating a brutal response. Very few clean kills because of the moral ambiguity of sacrificing a few lives to save many. No one walks away with their head held high.

Clark