A Critical Review of The Movie Eye in The Sky

Eye in the Sky

Film summary

The British thriller film, “Eye in the Sky,” under the directorship of Gavin Hood premiered in 2014 after its filming had started in 2014. The filming started in South Africa and the director focuses on the ethical challenges of the drone warfare. The film opens its initial setting in Nairobi, Kenya where a young girl plays in hula hoop. Consequently, a British Colonel, Katherine Powel receives news the same morning that a Kenyan-based British undercover agent has been killed by Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda-linked group with cells in East Africa. Powel takes command of a mission to capture the leaders of Al-Shabaab whom she is told are hiding in a safe house in Nairobi. The colonel targets Susan Danford and her husband.

Powell organizes a multinational team for the mission whose members are linked by voice and video systems. An aerial surveillance drone is deployed under the control of Steve Watts based in Nevalda (Hood min. 3). The Kenyan team operates as field agents and is placed close to the safe house to make arrests. A meeting of top government officials and ministers in the UK (cobra) supervise the mission. After contacting Farah, a member of the Kenyan team in the mission, Powell learns that the target suspects are planning suicide bombing on civilians. She then asks the cobra and the army legal, to give her a “legal clearance to strike” (Hood min 9). Earlier, the mission aimed at arresting and not killing. Since one of the targets is a US national, the cobra fails to agree to let Powell bomb the house saying that action could lead to a diplomatic tussle and put “the nation at risk because of one collateral damage issue” (Hood min 27). As a result, they refer the matter to the UK foreign secretary for directions. The secretary contacts the US counterpart and they agree that the suspects should be eliminated but with caution to minimize collateral damage.

In the room where Cobra is holding talks with Powell, the military personnel argue about the legal and political aspects of their decision. They fear that if they strike the house, Alia, who is selling her mother’s bread near the target building could be a collateral damage. Powell says that “no one is willing to take responsibility of pulling the trigger” (Hood 57). Watts and his sensor operator, Carrie Gershon delay firing the missile hoping that Alia moves away from the building. Farah tries to buy all bread from Alia so that she can move but his headgear is blown off and he flees leaving the girl collecting the bread to sell again. Powell authorizes Watts to strike and the missile injures Alia while Danford survives. A second strike injures Alia again and she succumbs at the hospital. Back in London, commanders argue about the incidence.

Opinion About Drones

Based on the film and other reports of the use of drones in the war against terrorism, I agree that drones be allowed in the war. My agreement anchors on the notion that drones are sometimes accurate. They target a place and strike it with precision. Also, before a drone strikes, ground officers undertake investigations that reduce the risks of collateral damage. When risks of collateral damage exist, the commanders abort the mission. Besides, drones help in preventing the soldiers firing them from being a casualty of the war. Drone operators fire missiles from miles away and that means they are safe.

Works Cited

1. Hood, G. (Director). (2015). Eye in the Sky [Motion picture]. Entertainment One.
2. Brehm, J. (2016). Ethical issues in Eye in the Sky. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, 44(1), 97-99.
3. Carr, M. (2017). Eye in the Sky: A film analysis of drone warfare. Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, 17(4), 1-16.
4. Chan, C., & Coker, C. (2018). Eye in the Sky: The moral and ethical implications of drone warfare. In S. Sethi & D. Kodur (Eds.), Contemporary Issues in Security and International Relations: A Collection of Case Studies (pp. 69-79). Routledge.
5. Chatterjee, A., & Iosifidis, P. (Eds.). (2018). Global Media and Communication Policy. Palgrave Macmillan.
6. Deibert, R. J. (2019). Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society. House of Anansi Press.
7. Ghimire, S. (2016). Eye in the Sky: A Critical Analysis of Drones as a Technology of Remote Warfare. International Journal of Applied Sciences and Biotechnology, 4(4), 407-414.
8. Girona i Bel, J. (2016). The moral dilemmas of drone warfare in Eye in the Sky. Journal of Military Ethics, 15(4), 305-307.
9. Kaag, J., & Kreps, S. E. (Eds.). (2015). Drone Warfare: The Development of Unmanned Aerial Conflict. Routledge.
10. Vance, A. (2015). Eye in the Sky: A Film Review. The Space Review, 8(5), 5-7.