Thriller meets thinker in Eye in the Sky, a parable from modern drone warfare. Eye in the Sky poses this question: is it acceptable to neutralize the very worst evil in the world when it requires the simultaneous taking of the most innocent life?
If we are to pursue drone warfare as a morally acceptable military option, we must see what happens on the ground so we understand it. Eye in the Sky asks if we can stomach it once we’ve seen it.
Is the choice framed too simplistically in Eye in the Sky? No, the starkness of the choice in this film brings clarity to the question that we must ponder. Star Helen Mirren and director Gavin Hood have said in interviews that they expected married couples to argue different points of view after seeing this movie.
As Eye in the Sky’s star, Mirren commands the screen as few can and is especially fierce here. Jeremy Northam excels as the chief ditherer. Barkhad Abdi (Oscar-nominated as the Somali pirate in Captain Phillips) delivers another charismatic performance.
But this is Alan Rickman’s movie. In one of his final performances, Rickman plays the military commander who understands how difficult the choice is – because he’s already made it. Now he must navigate through all the other characters as they behave with varying degrees of belligerence, ambivalence and avoidance. It’s a supremely textured performance, layered with his wry humor, contained frustration and quiet determination.
At its Cinequest screening, director Gavin Hood said that he is as proud of Eye in the Sky as he is of his earliest films, A Reasonable Man and the Oscar-winning Tsotsi. He should be.
