F1522 eye in the sky2
Review
Score: 3 op 5

Film: Eye in the Sky

Niels Ruëll
© BRUZZ
06/12/2017

Is it OK to blow up suicide terrorists if you know that you will be killing an innocent Kenyan child as well? Eye in the Sky finds a balance between suspense and ethical issues.

Drones make it much easier to conduct warfare and carry out executions at great distance, and the temptation to use them is thus very strong. But they also raise numerous concrete legal, political, and ethical questions that cannot simply be ignored. Eye in the Sky is not a profound analysis or essay but a suspense film that illustrates the problems without daring (or wanting) to take a decisive stance. The superlative Helen Mirren plays a resolute colonel who directs a drone operation from an army base in the English town of Northwood. A British terrorist who has committed horrific crimes in name of al-Shabaab is located in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Photos taken by big and small drones also reveal a British and American tourist putting on suicide vests and preparing an attack. The Kenyan army cannot intervene in the slums ruled by extremists without causing a bloodbath. The colonel wants to order American drone pilots in Las Vegas to bomb the terrorists. But she needs permission from a series of government officials in London. However much her superior (the last performance by the prematurely departed Alan Rickman) pressures them to make decisions, they hesitate, prevaricate, and refuse to take responsibility. Military logic and political logic are not the same. The situation escalates when an innocent Kenyan child selling bread stops right in front of the house they are planning to bomb. Justifiable collateral damage? Is your answer to that dreadful question different if you are high and dry? South African director Gavin Hood (Rendition, Tsotsi) keeps things superficial and has polished this film slightly too much. But he does deliver fast-paced action, palpable tension, and fluid switches between three continents. Not bad at all.



EYE IN THE SKY
UK, 2015, dir.: Gavin Hood, act.: Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, Barkhad Abdi, 102 min.

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