April 28, 2016 -- The morality of bombing terrorists with the risk of also killing civilians in an urban setting is explored in detail in this limited release British film. It finally made its way to Laramie after winding around the rest of the country, and the world.

This movie reminded me of the TV series “Ethics in America” which examined thorny moral issues in heated panel discussions. A moderator, using the Socratic method, would expertly tighten the screws on the moral scenarios, making the issues more and more difficult as show wore on. This exposed weaknesses in the arguments.

This movie does the same thing using drama to create an increasingly difficult moral dilemma involving a drone strike. A nest of high level terrorists are in a safe house under surveillance in Nairobi, Kenya. British Colonel Katherine Powell (played by Helen Mirren of “The Queen”) is in charge of the operation in England, but the drone is controlled from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada by USAF pilot Steve Watts (Aaron Paul of “Need for Speed”). Aiding him with drone surveillance is Airman First Class Carrie Gershon (Phoebe Fox).

The idea is to send in a military force to capture the terrorists, but when they end up in a neighborhood controlled by heavily armed Al-Shabaab extremists, that plan won't work. Colonel Powell proposes a strike with the Hellfire missiles on board the surveillance drone. Just before the strike is authorized, a young girl, Alia Mo'Allim (Aisha Takow) sets up shop selling bread right outside the house where the terrorists are holed up. This raises the collateral damage estimate too high, so the missile strike is put on hold.

An undercover Kenyan field agent Jama Farah (Barkhad Abdi of “Captain Phillips”) uses a miniature short-range video drone that looks like a beetle (which is really cool) to see what is going on inside the house. Another drone that looks like a small bird provides more information from outside the house. All this information is fed back to an office in London where several people make the final decision on what to do. Among those in the room are several politicians and Lieutenant General Frank Benson (played by Alan Rickman of the “Harry Potter” movies).

With the aid of the spy bug and bird, those in charge learn that the house is loaded with explosives and suicide bombers inside are getting ready to attack. This puts more pressure in favor of going ahead with the missile strike, despite the probable loss of innocent lives. Colonel Powell, who has been after some of these same terrorists for years, puts pressure on her staff to fudge the collateral damage estimate in order to gain authorization for the attack.

Those in London with the authority to authorize the missile launch are very reluctant to do so because of the probable death of the girl in the explosion. They refer the question up to the British Foreign Secretary (Iain Glen) and the question ultimately ends up with the U.S. Secretary of State.

This is a lot more dithering than I would expect, given the situation on the ground. But then examining this moral dilemma in detail is what the film is all about. This is not an action film, it is a political suspense drama. The young girl in harm's way, Alia Mo'Allim, and her loving parents, are given a good deal of sympathetic screen time early in the film. There is really no doubt what is going to happen, since the setup is both straightforward and obvious. If you are looking for surprises, you won't find many in this film.

But only very hard-hearted people will not be moved by this situation, in which there are no easy answers. While the film does a good job as far as it goes, there is one major piece of the drone warfare equation missing from it. What is the aftermath of the events in the film? Are more victims radicalized because of the calculated death of civilians? Does drone warfare create more enemies than it kills? This film doesn't go there.

The acting is good in the film, with some fine performances, including a very nice scene with the late Alan Rickman, who will be missed. Rickman plays a general who, in this pivotal scene, puts down a smug liberal politician who foolishly tries to school him in the costs of war. This film rates a B.

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