Let’s get right to it: Writer (Guy Hibbert), director (Gavin Hood), and editor (Megan Gill) have combined to create a movie with the most sustained tension I have seen in a long time. The obvious focus is a situation of military and politics; in reality the key cinematic tool is a running clock dictated by a innocent girl in a red dress. If you even remotely appreciate the core material and the logic behind the scenario, you will walk away from the theatre shaking and muttering to yourself. This is some kind of movie.
The western world faces fanatical jihadism in terms few of us — or our leadership — can touch or conceive. It is like punching a ghost. Yet, the United States and Great Britain, in particular, have declared war on terrorism. What “Eye in the Sky” so precisely displays is the paradox of force versus policy.
To be more precise, the mission of the military (like it or not) is the delivery of ordnance in support of national policy and military objectives. There is no doubt or equivocation of that statement; it is just the way things are. Intelligence, logistics, training, etc. are all more passive subsets of the overall mission. “Eye in the Sky” demonstrates the frustration of military mission(s) when confronted with vacillation and confused national guidance.
The movie begins as British Colonel Helen Powell (Helen Mirren), a Joint Services tactical commander in a bunker north of London, follows overhead video provided by a Reaper remotely provided aircraft (RPA). The RPA is tracking Al-Shabaab terrorists in Nairobi that have been tied to civilian massacres all over the region. It is in the bunker at the start of the movie that the tension begins to build and is relentless thereafter.
Colonel Powell and her team have located an Al-Shabaab cell operating out of a small village outside Nairobi. Ground and air intelligence have located key members of Al-Shabaab, one an American citizen, the other British, in a building in the village. The initial operational plan is to capture these two senior terrorists. The plan changes when they are found in quiet celebration of two young men being readied for suicide bombings. The only military alternative is to bomb the building.
That alternative raises the political stakes significantly. Outside the building is a young girl selling bread. She is representative of all of the civilians that are within the blast zone. This immediately brings political policy members into play. Politicians rightly worry about civilian casualties, as does the military, but the terrorists represent a huge threat that the military can’t let escape. And, the clock runs.
The military pushes for approval; British parliamentarians wring their hands and pass the buck. Tick, tick, tick. Not even the military escapes scrutiny as the U.S. Air Force RPA pilot tearfully equivocates launching his weapons while he has video of the young girl outside the wall of the building.
The film tracks real time, back and forth, between aerial footage, the command center, the RPA pilot and his senior officers, the British and U.S. political staff, and the little girl. These film bites are overlaid with need for timely action complementing political priorities. The editing is spellbinding. The story contains well meaning but conflicting authority, in the face of a terrible enemy hiding behind unsuspecting civilians as time runs down. It is terrible to consider but wonderful to watch. The acting in the hands of Gavin Hood is superb.
However much one understands or cares about tactical doctrine in concert with national and political concerns is almost irrelevant. “Eye in the Sky” is a finely executed movie, a real nail-biter.
