Drone (2017)

Directed by: Jason Bourque | 91 minutes | thriller | Actors: Sean Bean, Patrick Sabongui, Mary McCormack, Maxwell Haynes, Joel David Moore, Viv Leacock, Sharon Taylor, Bradley Stryker, Kirby Morrow, Kevin O’Grady, Tommy Europe, Kamal Malik, Nilofar Gesawat, Mohsin Khan, John Emmet Tracy

Imagine for a moment what it’s like to live as a Drone Pilot for the CIA. In the morning you wake up in your mega house in the suburbs. You kiss your wife before you head out the door after a hectic breakfast. On the way to work, you first drop your son – a typical teenager – at school. And once at work, you slide into a laptop, put on a large headset and fly a drone thousands of miles away in Pakistan. Brutal missiles are used to push off terrorists. How degenerate is such a person? Does such a man have feelings about killing a human being?

This is roughly the life of Neil (Sean Bean – known from “Game of Thrones” and ‘The Lord of the Rings’), the protagonist in the movie ‘Drone’. He is a private contractor who carries out drone strikes for the CIA. It’s a secret he keeps even from his own family. However, the carefully constructed facade begins to crumble one day when its name becomes known through a whistleblower site. A Pakistani man named Imir (Patrick Sabongui – “Homeland”, “White House Down”) shows up at the door who holds Neil personally responsible for the deaths of his wife and child. The confrontation puts the family to the test and makes them question all certainties.

The theme addressed by ‘Drone’ is an important social issue: how responsible is it to use drones in war situations? Is there such a thing as a clean war without innocent victims? The makers of ‘Drone’ clearly say not. This makes the film not only a successful thriller, but also a critical pamphlet.

‘Drone’ does not rely on beautiful images or flashy camera work, but on sharp dialogues. The film gets off to a slow start, but that’s partly because it’s working towards a climax. The conversations between Imir and Neil in the second part of the film are the highlights of ‘Drone’. At the dinner table (Imir has not yet revealed his true identity), the two talk about loss and justice.

Both Sabongui (Imir) and Bean (Neil) play their roles well. Neil’s character is particularly interesting. He is in mourning during the film because his father has passed away. He clearly struggles with his feelings of sadness, but is unable to put them into words in a eulogy. The fact that he can’t quite get his senses reinforces the image of the degenerate Drone pilot. And it also gives him a bond with Imir and his loss.

There are also critical points to mention with ‘Drone’. For example, the ease with which Imir manages to find Neil is very unlikely. You should not dwell on this for too long while watching. It also appears that Neil’s wife is having an affair, something that doesn’t really add anything to the story. That said, ‘Drone’ is all in all a very entertaining and exciting feature film. The film is especially recommended for people who like to deal with these kinds of social issues.