Eye In The Sky is meant to convey the agony of deciding whether or not to kill terrorists with drones even if there is “collateral damage.” It features a star-studded cast including Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman in one of his last roles, Aaron Paul and Phoebe Fox. It is also a cunning piece of propaganda.
Spoiler Alert! Don’t read any further if you haven’t seen the movie and plan on doing so.
The plot is rather basic. The bad guys (numbers 4, 3 and 2 respectively on the British most-wanted-list in East Africa) are schedule to meet in a house in Nairobi. A Kenyan anti-terror squad is standing by to arrest them. An American Reaper drone hovers above, the eye in the sky. There is, of course, confusion. Some suspects arrive as scheduled, but others were already in the house. They leave again for a different house in a Nairobi slum which, oddly, is controlled by al Shabaab, the Somali jihadist group. The Kenyan anti-terror unit has some amazing tech—miniature drones the size of a bird and a beetle—which broadcast HD quality live stream from inside the house around the globe. Two of the men inside are being outfitted with explosive vests, suicide bombers about to embark on a mission to kill innocent civilians. The capture mission becomes a kill mission. All this happens in the first third of the film. The rest is a rehashing of the Philosophy 101 utilitarian dilemma. Is it okay to kill one sweet, innocent girl in order to save hundreds of victims who’d be blown up by the suicide bombers?
Our October guest was professor Jim Phillips of the Anthropology and International Studies programs at Southern Oregon University. Jim discussed his new book 
