How Drone Kills Happen Eye in The Sky Film Dramatizes Techno Moral Dilemma

we need decision ready right now three go two wait 1 in his newest film IE in the sky Academy award-winning director Gavin Hood delves into the moral legal and political questions surrounding modern drone Warfare starring Helen mirin Aaron Paul and the late Alan Rickman in his final on-screen role the film deftly portrays single drone Mission from various perspectives across the chain of command stamp is British citizen they want her alive they cannot have her alive Frank I've tracked her for 6 years this is the closest I've ever got so we need to expand our rules of engagement right now to protect the civilian population Hellfire through that roof is our most effective option we have to know that we're legally in the clear CL recently sat down with reason TV to discuss his movie the issues surrounding military drone strikes and why guy Hibert script compelled him to take on the project firstly was enthralled by the ethical and moral dilemma that he sets up found it incredibly well paced as thriller so it was page Turner and but it also kept presenting very different perspectives on this drone strike Mission and just when thought knew what thought would turn the page and character would say something and well do think that and got to the end and really wanted to talk to somebody about it and of course there was nobody to talk to because it was script but thought if it's had that effect on me as re if can execute it halfway decently audiences might have good cinema experience and be left with something to talk about afterwards love the debate because think it's an essential it's essential for us to have these kind of debates think so much of our politics is so binary you know and everybody Stakes out position and that's that's not what makes us great as democracy what makes us great is you know we engage with other minds and we might actually find ourselves learning something and what guy script does so well think is present multiple points of view on particular scenario it doesn't in any way pre to the audience tell them what to think and you as the audience are left is jury here is what we have this is accurately researched if you don't know much about drone Warfare you will hope come to understand great deal more but you will be asked to decide what you think as someone who has qualms about current role in the US military overseas want to believe that these are the sorts of debates that happen throughout the killchain but that seem little farfetched to me can you talk little bit about that sure it's great question let me try and give you an overview first of all what you see in the film is based on the specific scenario that is set up in the film what part of which is that it is taking place in friendly country Kenya into which group of terrorists from al-shabab in Somalia have moved and are plotting suicide bombing within country with whom we as the United States and Britain are friendly so we are not in theater of war so it's very important to understand that if this strike was taking place in Iraq or Afghanistan as defined conflict Zone you would not necessarily be engaged in the same kinds of moral ethical and legal conversations as you are if you are targeting someone in Yemen or in Pakistan or in Kenya so let's let's just say that all drone strikes are not equal the particular scenario we have here does involve targeting British citizens and United States citizens that in itself spawns an interesting conversation because on the one hand citizens of the United States or Britain are horrified by the idea and and probably should be that their own citizens are being targeted without judicial oversight in the traditional Sense on the other hand as someone from another part of the world it does not necessarily play well from propaganda point of view to feel that the United States is super concerned when they're targeting one of their own citizens and perhaps less concerned when they're targeting someone from another country so all of these questions legal political are things that we need to be talking about you know there seems to be prevalent belief that due to the nature of drone Warfare someone's using joystick thousands of miles away that perhaps it is so separated the actor from the actions that this is new age of video game Warfare essentially your film does not seem to to subscribe to that notion yes well the the the the the simple answer to that question is that as our military advisor drone pilot stroke F-16 pilot who had flown in the Iraq War said to me gav when used to fly in Iraq yes there was there was limited fear of being shot down it was unlikely but it was there so that fueled certain adrenaline but didn't could drop my pad and leave and now as drone pilot although don't have the physical risk I'm not going to get shot down but am in this claustrophobic space for up to 14 16 hours day if an operation's going over or it's certainly 8 to 12 hours and have to not only Target but then have to stay and identify bodies and hover over the destruction and really own what did and even if feel what did was necessary it's very atic to be looking at body parts and trying to identify and these Pilots find that distressing and maybe they should on one level because it makes you accountable it's not some grainy you know that Dreadful word that some Pilots used on those tapes that will bug Splat this is human life and think as the as we as we see these images more clearly through technology it becomes harder and harder to see it as just video game or as bug Splat and we shouldn't you mentioned drones as an unsettling weapon what what do you what do you mean by unsettling well drones are unsettling because we are only at the beginning of where this kind of warfare is going you see in the movie The The Reaper drone that most people know with the Hellfire missiles watching from 15 or 20,000 ft you also see little bird that some people say is that real well if you go on YouTube you'll find that the hummingbird with little designed to look like hummingbird with camera was put up on on on on YouTube by defense contractor think almost 5 years ago that technology is still being developed and refined and and especially the tiny bug drone these micro drones I'm worried that our film will be out of date if we're not careful because in the film The micr drone is only used to send back visuals it's not armed these micr drones are very easy to weaponize and the next step is that the little micr drone targets you perhaps with face recognition software as swarm we send them into place we know who we're looking for it finds you blows little Anthrax up your nose as it flies by or detonates where is this going and it's not one doesn't want to use it as sort of scare tactics it is where it's going what legal framework will govern this new world of automated Warfare and what framework governs that and are we all going to be living under permanent drone surveillance in the interests of security these tradeoffs are important conversations to have think the start of your movie is famous line from escalet war truth is the first casualty how do you think that quote fits in with your thank you yeah well the the truth is very hard to get at for us as individuals not because we're not interested in the truth but because we all see the world from with particular background and and from particular position and one of the great things in the film is that each of the characters in the film is in sense true to the position they occupy Helen is tracking has been tracking particular terrorist for 6 years spoke to Military Intelligence Officers some of who have been tracking people for 10 years and they said to me one in particular said to me Gavin you know in this job when I've been watching someone do what consider to be terrible things and I've been watching them and unable to stop it don't even pretend that can be objective in certain moments that's why need the military lawyer for example to step in and give me guidance because sometimes just quote one this person off my list from the perspective of the foreign secretary who's being asked to approve this who will have to answer to the British public which Helen M's character won't have to do she goes home she's her world is private in the sense he will answer to the public so he has different perspective yes we might eliminate this particular terrorist but if we take innocent life in the process what's the political blow back from that that's not touchy feely question that's very important question even from strategic point of view does this help us win over foreign population to our way of thinking in order to win the big battle or does it create greater problem and that's an important question and not question that is necessarily on the mind of Helen mirin in the way that it's on the mind of say Ian Glenn who plays the foreign secretary when you were 17 you were conscripted into the South African Army how does that inform this film it's going back while think was little naive as many young people are at 17 about what military service would mean lost friend in Angola who was close school friend was not there when he died but it had profound effect on me in terms of you know sudden sense of mortality and beginning of questioning as to what is the nature of this war what What conflict are we actually involved with and so think having been in the military am interested in themes that explore the the the grayer Zone if you like don't think the world should be divided into good versus evil and think this idea of this simplistic approach of I'm right they're wrong is not helpful in terms of strategically winning what is currently in the world very significant conflict final question what do you hope people will walk away from the film thinking and talking about just hope they have really great discussion don't know what the answer is think this is an evolving conversation and hope that if you if an audience goes into this film not knowing much about drones they will come out more informed they will come out having experienced good movie and good thriller but they'll also be left with lot to talk about