Review: Eye in the Sky
Technological advances may have allowed countries to conduct so-called armchair wars, where battles can be fought not on the ground where you can see the whites of your enemies' eyes but rather from elegant boardrooms or bunker-like spaces lit by the glow of surveillance monitors. Videogame mentality aside, war is still war - there are still decisions to be made, morals to be compromised, data to be manipulated, public perception to be carefully shaped, and innocent lives to be lost. The absurdly tangled logistics behind a single military operation is the focus of Gavin Hood's Eye in the Sky. On paper, the series of decision-making might make for a dry, talky affair but Hood's taut direction and the cast's excellent performances combine for a riveting, thought-provoking drama.
Taking place over the course of several hours and ping-ponging between Nairobi, London, Las Vegas, and Hawaii, Eye in the Sky concerns Operation Cobra, which entails capturing radicalised British national Aisha Al Hady (Lex King) who has joined the militant group Al-Shabaab and is scheduled to meet with two new recruits in Nairobi. Leading the mission from a Northwood, London compound is Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) whilst Lieutenant General Frank Benson (Alan Rickman) is sat in a Whitehall boardroom full of officials. Manning the eye in the sky from a Nevada military base are Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) and his rookie partner Carrie Gershon (Phoebe Fox); Kenyan agent Jama Farrah (Barkhad Abdi) is the man on the ground in Nairobi.
Complications arise, most prominently the realisation that Al-Shabaab is about to send out two suicide bombers, which leads to the decision from Powell to change the mission from a "capture" to a "kill." The change, however, is not so easily implemented as the military and political machinations go into effect. One sticking point is the presence of Alia (Aisha Takow), a young girl selling bread in the area near the intended strike zone; there's a human face on the table now and many involved in the operation are unwilling to strike knowing that girl - and many others in the area - will be a casualty.
Rules of engagement and collateral damage estimates are discussed and then discussed some more. Are they willing to sacrifice the lives of those who will be killed if they let the suicide bombers carry out their plan? Benson is fully behind Powell's call to strike, but the officials are not so keen. There are British subjects and an American citizen involved in the militant group. None of the officials are willing to make the decision that will hold them accountable in the eyes of the public, and the responsibility is pushed further and further up the chain of command until the U.K. foreign secretary (Iain Glen), already dealing with a bout of food poisoning, and the U.S. Secretary of State (Michael O'Keefe), on tour in Beijing, are both asked to weigh in. The latter doesn't even think twice - they've got one of the most wanted terrorist figures in their sights, attack - whilst the former wants to know what action is recommended. "The legal argument is we could wait, but we need not wait. The military argument is we should not wait," offers Brian Woodale (Jeremy Northam) in a typically evasive response.
Guy Hibbert's screenplay offers no easy answers. Everyone makes valid points, even if other considerations such as winning the propaganda war (perhaps allowing the bombing to happen might be better in selling the War on Terror to the public) come into play. As the U.K. foreign secretary notes, "Revolutions are fueled by postings on YouTube." The efforts to get Alia out of harm's way without arousing suspicion are gripping as are Farrah's attempts to maneuver a surveillance beetle into the house containing Al Hady and the other Al-Shabaab members without having his cover blown. Then there are a handful of images - one extended, one almost a throwaway - that have deep impact: a woman being ushered out by a guard for not having her wrists covered and Alia playing with a hula hoop. These are freedoms Westerners take for granted along with the expectation of living in relative safety. "You can't handle the truth," Jack Nicholson's Colonel Nathan R. Jessup barked when asked to justify his actions in A Few Good Men. Freedom comes at a price, and Eye in the Sky muses that there is another war, sometimes a strangely comic but no less difficult one, that takes place to weigh that price.
Eye in the Sky
Directed by: Gavin Hood
Written by: Guy Hibbert
Starring: Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman, Barkhad Abdi, Jeremy Northam, Iain Glen, Phoebe Fox, Monica Dolan, Armaan Haggio, Aisha Takow, Richard McCabe, Michael O'Keefe
