Eye in the Sky (2015) Review: Tight, Well-Crafted Modern War Drama

A war film sans the clichés and the razzmatazz of a typical war film! Gone are the days of chases, face to face & hand to hand combat or tanks firing or machine guns booming. It’s the time of high-tech war where a call to kill is made not in the battle zone from bunker to bunker but a continent away. Welcome to Eye in the Sky starring Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman and directed by Gavin Hood.

The film still manages to remain a taut thriller that does a neat tight rope walk while effortlessly touching the subjects of morality. Like someone’s assured death more devastating than many and who will be more ruthless if all get trigger happy, so on and so forth!

The plot mixes far off protagonists connected to each other by audio, video equipment debating the implications of drone warfare and the loss of a girl child who is oblivious to the area she has stepped in and is suddenly discovered near the bombing target which houses many certified Al Shabaab terrorists in a conflict zone in Nairobi.

But with the perilous danger of imminent suicide attacks lurking behind, which the holed out terrorists may be planning, the life of one single girl child, who happens to be present in the target zone, brings the operation to a halt initially. Leaving all in a dilemma of what should one do – pull the trigger or try to capture. This dilemma is captured well on celluloid by British Colonel Helen Mirren.

Add to that the pressure from nay sayers who are of the opinion that one can’t launch a missile on a friendly country who is not at war. Plus the socio political and legal implications of it, with some parody and satirical touch. Like the British External Affairs Secretary taking a now-or-never decision while in the loo in a hotel in Singapore. Or the American Secretary of State saying that Brits should stop playing around and get on with the job of killing. Passing the buck strategy has been filmed brilliantly.

The script is excellent and makes you gummed to your seat, while making you think a lot. It leaves you with a huge dilemma. Gavin Hood is brilliant as the director. This is his best output since his Oscar winner “Tsotsi.”

Helen Mirren steals the show like she always does. So does Alan Rick man. The film is neat, tight and well-crafted. Do watch it!

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By Carbon Green

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