Eye in the sky – a review

In a joint American-British mission, Colonel Katherine Powell (Dame Helen Mirren) is on the scent of the numbers two, three and four of the East-African terrorist top ten list. Moreover, these terrorists are all in a house together preparing for what appears to be an attack. With an armed drone overhead controlled by American Steve Watss (Aaron Paul) she’s looking down on the terrorist compound and trying to get clearance from her higher uppers to destroy the target. But if you get direct High Definition feedback of your actions; can you live with the consequences?

I don’t like most contemporary war movies. Jarhead, the green zone, The Kingdome, they are not for me. But there are always exceptions; Eye in the sky is exactly that: One great exception. And I think, mainly, because it’s staged more like a theatrical stage play rather than an (action) movie. It is, in this sense very reminiscent to -the other favorite of mine- Lions for lambs. 

The theatre of war.

The whole movie only knows /shows six sets -that’s it. And each and every of the handful of characters that inhabit these sets have his or her strengths and weaknesses. Strengths and weaknesses that naturally conflict with other characters. So like any good play there’s this constant brewing of characters conflicting- trying to coerce people, trying shove responsibility away-it is a fascinating watch.

Combine that with high tech –James Bond-esque gadgets like a camera kolibri and beetle and you’ve got a very interesting spy thriller going on.

A divide in tension.

But there is more. Because a it is basically a stage play –with the few rooms to emphasize the fact- with all the action taking places many miles from where the main characters are; a certain divide in tension occurs. One the one hand the direct tension on the ground in that Kenyan village, where people are going to die. And, on the other, the indirect morality tension of the people giving the orders.

 

To explain: Helen Mirren’s character is never in danger. Aaron Paul’s character is never in danger. Yet they spy on, and have direct influence on the lives of, other people. The only people who are in real danger are the people in that small Kenyan village –and most of them are dangerous extremists.

So the tension for the main characters comes not from physical hurt but mental hurt. ‘If I pull this trigger and willfully execute innocent bystanders – could I live with that?’ Or, to name the famous (Biblical) example: ‘Could you kill one child to save fifty?’

Eye in the sky plays with these concepts. It plays with morality; It plays with the responsibility that comes with it. And even, to some extent the invasion of privacy. The movie plays with the fact that these choices are so very far away, yet you see them HD on the conference screen and so they are (so) close. Whereby each and every character reacts to what they see, what they know and get into conflicts with other characters.

Monica Dolan’s character, for example, basically represents both the voice of reason as the pure side of passivism. And, knowing the dangers of the terrorists I –as the audience- felt a bit conflicted about her. Even though this character was absolutely right in her opinion.

And then naturally the situation escalates into a Hitchcockian nightmare.

The main plot point is a direct reference to Alfred Hitchcock’s The saboteur (I assume intentional. Though it could just be coincidence).

In that movie a child gets a movie canister which, unbeknownst to him, contains a bomb. He promises to bring this ‘package’ to the town hall before noon. Unfortunately –because he’s a child- he fails.
In Eye in the sky the same concept is used wherein a young, sweet girl sells bread for her parents inside the blast radius. And like the audience in Hitchcock’s The saboteur, the characters in Eye in the sky are wishing wholeheartedly for that child to get away safely.

Now, Hitchcock always acknowledged about his movie that he made a mistake. Instead of giving the audience a relieve of the tension he actually blew the kid up. Eye in the sky does the same thing but with one heck of an interesting twist: The sweet caring father who lives in an extremist neighborhood, but doesn’t really believe in the notions. What is going to become of him now that his daughter is dead? How easy would it be for the extremists to feast on his anger and sorrow? Is sacrificing this child a solution or the seed to future problems?

No, Eye in the sky does not have a happy ending. But the movie leaves it open for you to interpret. My worldview is probably a bit darker than most. So the final line in the movie: ‘Good job soldiers.’ (if memory serves) leaves a very bitter taste.

Acting.

The actors elevate the piece. And though, at time it felt a bit lagging (maybe ten, fifteen minutes shaved off would have improved it a bit); just seeing Helen Mirren’s character not being able to sit still, still gives the movie a dramatic boost.

Which brings me to the late Alan Rickman. This is a man I admired all through my life. He was a kind soul who could play a villain so dastardly well -as I honestly believe only good people can. And though he might never have liked to be called a 'villain' (and certain not solely being remembered as one) I think his small part in Eye in the sky tells you a lot about his skill as an actor.
In it he plays an army man with a wife and family. This character is caring, kind but –he has to be- ruthless as well. And it’s this conflict between sweet and dark that Rickman bring to the table effortlessly. Eye in the sky will go down in the annals as his last movie; and it is a good respectful part to end with. I will certainly miss him!

In short: Eye in the sky is a stage play of a contemporary war movie. It touches on themes like privacy, morality and responsibility and lets characters clash over it. It is a smart movie about our current high-tech age of terrorism which dares to ask some interesting questions. If you are expecting explosions and brave soldiers fighting you might have to pass on this one. But if –like me- you would like your morality questioned this is a very interesting movie to watch.