The film is streaming on Netflix (Image: Netflix)
Fans of war films are in for a treat as this action drama captures the events of a long-forgotten war that viewers had ‘no idea’ about.
The 2016 film was directed by Richie Smyth and written by Kevin Brodbin in a collaboration of Irish and South African productions to retell an important story of the 1960s.
The Siege of Jadotville is based on a book of the same name by Declan Power’s, retelling the events of an Irish Army unit and their role in the Congo Crisis.
From 1960 to 1965, part of Congo was in political upheaval and conflict, and the Irish stepped in to help as part of the Siege of Jadotville during the United Nations Operation. It begins with the execution of Congo’s Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, and the outbreak of civil war before showing the brutal details of war that have been somewhat swept under the rug in mainstream media.
Playing the leading role as the Irish Army officer who commanded the Irish UN force is Jamie Dornan, and he felt very strongly about the subject matter at hand. He claimed that the real-life veterans “didn’t get the recognition they deserved” and was pleased to be able to shed some light on their “heroic” work.
It’s based on a true story (Image: Netflix)
A fan of the film shared their thoughts on Rotten Tomatoes, writing: “One of the best war movies around! I had no idea about this story, a total injustice to these guys, total heroes!”
Sharing a similar sentiment, one viewer said: “Amazing true story of real-life heroes.’ Great movie, well-told story, great acting. A must see.”
What viewers seem to be in agreement about when it comes to this movie is that it never loses the heart of its story, with no huge action gimmicks or ‘cheesy’ scenes that are common amongst your war film classics.
A fan wrote: “So many other war films seem slightly cheesy in comparison to this one. It’s full of realistic battlefield action – and I mean FULL.
“Refreshingly, unlike so many others of the same genre, it doesn’t suffer from too much pathos. Whether it really is historically accurate I have no idea, but it certainly rang of the truth to me. Highly recommended!”
It won three Irish Film & Television Awards (Image: Netflix)
Also starring in the action is Emmanuelle Seigner, who plays Madame LaFontagne, Jason O’Mara as Jack Prendergast, Mikael Persbrandt as Dag Hammarskjöld and Mark Strong as Conor Cruise O’Brien. Their performances were able to acknowledge the real people who faced these challenges and honour their legacy in a way that was yet to be done on such a huge platform.
To ensure the performances were as accurate as they could be, director Ritchie Smythe put the cast through a training camp in South Africa before filming. In his opinion the best way to make the scenes look realistic was to train them to be soldiers, so that’s exactly what he did.
His efforts don’t go unnoticed by viewers, as one person said: “Absolutely worth watching. This is an incredible true story on valour, determination and intelligence against brutal force.”
The award-winning war movie, adapted from the non-fiction book, is available to stream now exclusively on Netflix.
