Sky is the limit

Ervell E Menezes

There have been films on covert spy operations but ‘Eye in the Sky’ is special for its attention to detail, accompanied by human emotions shown by the people involved. Opening with the quote “in war, truth is the first casualty”, it zooms to Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren), who is to lead a secret drone mission to capture a terrorist group living in a safehouse in Nairobi. They are supposed to be “the eye in the sky”. But when Powell learns that the group plans to carry out a suicide attack, her objective changes. She has to kill the terrorists.

Drone pilot Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) targets the safehouse for destruction, but reports the presence of a nine-year-old girl Jama Farah (Barkhad Abdi) selling bread in the area. Efforts to save her form the body of this engrossing drama. Director Gavin Hood shuttles from the action spot in Nairobi to the negations underway to get the go-ahead for the attack. We then come face-to-face with the boardroom figures, Lt Gen Frank Benson (Alan Rickman), British foreign secretary James Willett (Iain Glen) and others waiting for the final order.

Meanwhile higher-ups are to be contacted in various stages of relaxing, some even “sitting on their thrones”, others playing ping-pong. These anecdotes provide dramatic relief. The buildup to the hoola-hooping local girl selling bread is adept. Efforts to sell her bread are also made in a bid to save her life.

It is 102 minutes of taut drama with the drone working overtime and entering the premises otherwise inaccessible, and here the visuals play an important part. One almost gets fond of the prying drone.

Helen Mirren, one of the most famous British actresses, is not fully stretched but does well as the stressed leader with Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman and Jeremy Northam providing the needed emotional backup. And Barkhar Abdi does her bit as the oblivious focal point.

All in all, ‘Eye in the Sky’ is a rare entertainer. Don’t miss it.