“You do realize that you are outnumbered by a factor of twenty.“
Streaming media present screening options like a buffet stretching out onto the street. There’s too much food and not enough nutrition. Under this metaphor I stumbled onto Richie Smyth’s Irish-South African movie The Siege of Jadotville (2016), wondering if the war scenes would entertain me.
The premise is drawn from history: during the Congolese Civil War in 1961, a UN peacekeeping force of Irish Soldiers was dispatched to the remote fort at Jadotville where they were greatly outnumbered and laid siege to by a large militia. The Irish dug-in, successfully withstanding multiple assaults over several days, until finally surrendering without losing a soul, only to become a political embarrassment due to considerations beyond the battlefield.
Is this a good movie? Did I spend my time wisely?
I’m a sucker for lost causes. The format is often used in war stories to express futility while affirming a higher purpose. It’s a category of struggle that makes room for sacrifice and the many horrors of death; really, though, it’s a technical frame for stunt coordinators and pyrotechnicians developing disaster porn for the couch-bound set.
Another selling point is the way The Siege of Jadotville is both familiar and alien. As a non-American movie about non-American concerns, it’s filled with multiple dialects and conversational references that may not translate well for every viewer. It is also the story of a heroic White guy, Commandant Pat Quinlan, played by Jamie Dornan, the handsome lad who hit pay dirt in the Fifty Shades franchise of movies (2015-2018).
The fact is, The Siege of Jadotville is mostly manly posturing and confusingly-staged fight scenes. There is loud gun play and team building, and an attractive supporting turn by Mark Strong, but the movie works best as a signpost to other, better movies than as a uniquely memorable story on its own.
–August 30, 2018
