Movies about Terrorism

[SizzlingPopcorn]

Die Hard Quadrology

[SuckaMC]

Check out a USA mini-series called The Grid with Dylan McDermett. It fits the bill quite nicely. Great show.

[Doc MacGyver]

Originally Posted by StephenX

Well, movies like Battle of Algiers is not a 'fictional action movie,' so that is the point some people (and I think, you) aren't getting. It's almost a documentary, portraying the Algierien resistance to French military troops in the 1950's.

I read/deconstructed historical essay, journals, and texts...for the last four years I am just looking at other ways of exploring what I love. Trust me, I have deconstructed enough works at this point to where I pretty well understand it. I just would like to see said tactics played out in an entertaining film. It's nothing new, I can write a novel on why terrorists do what they do, etc. I simply want to see some films about it. I had to deconstruct Battle of Algiers in class, so I know there is some more out there.

And with films like War Within, Paradise Now, and other said films, it seems as though there are a few things out there I haven't seen.

Fair enough. While not necessarily "Terrorist"-related, I think Black Hawk Down is a fantastic big-budget documentary of real-third-world events regarding America's involvement in a volatile region, if you haven't already seen it.


-Doc

[chris_sc77]

Just rented it today and have not watched it yet but Right At Your Door sounds like a pretty good example.

[StephenX]

Originally Posted by Doc MacGyver

Fair enough. While not necessarily "Terrorist"-related, I think Black Hawk Down is a fantastic big-budget documentary of real-third-world events regarding America's involvement in a volatile region, if you haven't already seen it.


-Doc

Agreed. Fantastic film. I practically wrote a thesis on the UN Somalia intervention just last semester. One of my favorite films, especially in this genre. That is the kind of stuff I was looking for.

[StephenX]

Originally Posted by chris_sc77

Just rented it today and have not watched it yet but Right At Your Door sounds like a pretty good example.

Let me know what you think about it.

[Yakuza Bengoshi]

Originally Posted by StephenX

That is the kind of stuff I was looking for.

Based on your previous posts about what you were looking for, I'm a bit surprised by this post. No doubt Black Hawk Down is an exciting docudrama/popcorn-flick, but its rather stark us-vs.-them approach dehumanizes the Somalis, and unduly discounts or ignores much of the circumstances that led to the events of that day. It's also not a film about terrorism, and is no more about guerrilla insurgency than Zulu is.

[Doc MacGyver]

Originally Posted by Yakuza Bengoshi

Based on your previous posts about what you were looking for, I'm a bit surprised by this post. No doubt Black Hawk Down is an exciting docudrama/popcorn-flick, but its rather stark us-vs.-them approach dehumanizes the Somalis, and unduly discounts or ignores much of the circumstances that led to the events of that day. It's also not a film about terrorism, and is no more about guerrilla insurgency than Zulu is.

I disagree. I think the movie shows you what happened from the perspective of the U.S. forces. It doesn't "take their side", it just shows you what they went through, unabashedly. They do present both sides of the argument, in the fantastic scenes in the interogation room between the Somali/Army HNsIC, but the main brunt of the movie is just a ground-level perspective on what that totally avoidable hell was like.


-Doc

[hitmanjules]

I agree that in Black Hawk Down the Somali side was not shown in a "respected enemy" light such as in We Were Soldiers or Letters From Iwo Jima, but never forget that they bit the hand that was doing their best to feed them and then dragged their dead bodies through their streets. No one wants a foreign military in their country, but under the best of circumstances, if some Spetznaz unit deployed to New Orleans after Katrina hit and were helping to distribute food and keep order, and happened to apprehend some gangbangers or criminals that we ourselves couldn't nab... I wouldn't exactly hold it against them.

StephenX, Doc Macgyver, what sort of work do you do with your Int Poli degree?

[Giantrobo]

2 Mel Gibson movies come to mind when you put them in the whole, "One Man's Terrorist is another Man's Freedom Fighter" light:

The Patriot
Braveheart

[True_Story1011]

Rambo... III

[FinkPish]

A big one that is being missed is Sum of All Fears, which has a terrorist attack on the US and which also explores the perpetrators of the act, not just the government response.

[Giantrobo]

Originally Posted by FinkPish

A big one that is being missed is Sum of All Fears, which has a terrorist attack on the US and which also explores the perpetrators of the act, not just the government response.

[mikelowry]

I would have to add THE SIEGE (Bruce Willis & Denzel Washington starrer). Well made pre 911 political thriller.

[StephenX]

Originally Posted by hitmanjules

I agree that in Black Hawk Down the Somali side was not shown in a "respected enemy" light such as in We Were Soldiers or Letters From Iwo Jima, but never forget that they bit the hand that was doing their best to feed them and then dragged their dead bodies through their streets. No one wants a foreign military in their country, but under the best of circumstances, if some Spetznaz unit deployed to New Orleans after Katrina hit and were helping to distribute food and keep order, and happened to apprehend some gangbangers or criminals that we ourselves couldn't nab... I wouldn't exactly hold it against them.

StephenX, Doc Macgyver, what sort of work do you do with your Int Poli degree?

It's really a gateway degree to a variety of government work, and, at least at the University of Georgia, its relatively new. You take classes and prepare to work with the government with regards to national security, conflict and war, terrorism, and the politics that lead to international conflict. For example, its a good degree if you want to be a military officer, work at the pentagon, CIA, FBI, or any other political field.

Currently, I am taking a class called "Terrorism" and one called "U.S. National Security Policy."

Fun stuff if you like politics, but like it a lot more when dealing with violence and war. I love my classes.


On topic, people that say Black Hawk Down did not "portray things from the Somali side" is kind of unjust. Most of them were on a homegrown hallucinogen which made them so violent, and were under a war lord who simply told them to shoot UN workers because they were trying to feed the people the warlords were starving to death. The only reason they were withdrawn is because Americans, understandably so, don't like seeing their troops die if there is no homeland threat to our own safety. Sad world, but the real world, I guess. Black Hawk Down is merely a point of view from the Army Rangers that day in Mogadishu, nothing more. In that sense, it is more or less accurate.

[chris_sc77]

Originally Posted by StephenX

Let me know what you think about it.

Well, I watched Right At Your Door last night and I gotta say i was very pleasantly surprised.
It was a film I hadn't really heard too much about during its very limited release last year but i did remember a very positive review for it in EW mag. and I put it onto my Netflix list after I read that review. I am definitely glad I did.
I didn't really know too much of what to expect which might have helped my enjoyment of the film but overall I give it a strong recommendation. It is perhaps one of the most disturbing and realistically terrifying films I have seen in (at least) recent memory. There are no politics in this film and that is what separates it from other films dealing with terrorism ala The Siege, Munich, Tv's 24 etc. This is just a terrifying survival story that has more in common with stuff like 28 Weeks Later, Outbreak, and The twilight Zone than the previously mentioned works.
Rory Cochrane and Mary McCormack are both rather good in this and while their performances are mostly just varying degrees of the panic they are going through they do a good job.
There are some very disturbing images in this film but what is very effective is the use of radio reports (which probably account for half the dialogue in th film) and the images that they help one to convey. We don't really see too much of what actually happened up close but the events are described on radio reports which leave it up to the viewers imagination (which is a device I am a big fan of) to make your own images and conclusions.
So, definitely at least give this one a rent. I am also curious to know what others think of this so post your thoughts if you decide to check this one out.