When people must blanket their rooftops with photos of their children so that drones don’t attack them, something is wrong with our vision, our objectives, and the instruments of those objectives. Drone is a must-see documentary: a sobering, disturbing exposé spelling out the components of a multi-billion dollar killing industry. Beginning with the haunting cries and shock of 9/11, the film works its way through the layers of the war on terrorism and succinctly presents the causes and effects of this war, focusing how since 2004, and over 3,300 Pakistani deaths later, not only has nothing been healed since bombing of the towers, but in fact more suffering has ensued.
A similar, equally important documentary, Unmanned: America’s Drone Wars features interviews with the same key individuals involved in, affected by, and speaking out against these attacks, including former drone operator/whistleblower Brandon Bryant. Whereas Unmanned fiercely punches out evidence proving how these senseless attacks on civilians are war crimes, Drone is a zen-like investigator. With great skill, the filmmakers glean unabashed candor from these individuals, despite countless prior press interviews (particularly in Bryant’s case). With calm chrome-cool detachment and sharp lingering close-ups upon its subjects, we’re allowed to watch, pause and consider for ourselves, what is the truth here? As if we were the actual ground control voyeurs with a once-remote world now within our reach, we’re placed in the horrific situation of watching how an elaborate missile operation so easily destroys countless families, and how it all has been ornately orchestrated and justified.
The film manages to capture a particularly chilling interview with one of the creators of unmanned aerial vehicles, Andy von Flotow. Does his boyish glee in believing “young men like to smash things” underlie the causes of why this war continues? For that is the bigger question: why do these attacks not only continue to be condoned by US authorities but grow incessantly more powerful? As former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Lawrence Wilkerson points out, these attacks have only fed fear and resentment against the US: “Tell me how we’re winning the war when every time we kill four we create ten.”
And what of the objects of these drone attacks? The supposed targets? If these weapons systems are so precise, how are so many unarmed, innocent civilians getting killed? The film guides us to the faces of Waziristan’s tribal village, families who’d led happy lives before the drones. Looking into the eyes of these faces, remaining blind is no longer possible. Looking closely at others, perhaps we can begin to see ourselves. Their cries and shock are no different from our own.
