I will admit that I waited quite a while longer than I probably should have to watch this film but because it was going to be entirely in a language i can't speak (I want to say Farsi?) I wasn't really in the mood for subtitles so I put it off. Well the time finally came last night and I am very happy that I decided to watch this before Netflix buried it in the stacks and I forgot about it.
[src](https://occ-0-1722-92.1.nflxso.net/dnm/api/v6/X194eJsgWBDE2aQbaNdmCXGUP-Y/AAAABaHoXpgU8TRUPftbHjDcm9mg175C7ml5kyVmM4uLpaZ_ekuG1Y1hOUS5jstRY0CFCy2DWniEyqAwjFYnijk_W0O18SCmOELjClWzVE4BcAzyPj9QQ6awatbAqskNEQ.jpg?r=41c)Starring a bunch of people that you have likely never heard of (I hadn't) and filmed in desolate surroundings that are meant to be war-torn Iraq, this is a touching and powerful story of the horrors of war and how awful a group of people ISIS actually are. It follows an elite SWAT team in Mosul, a city that was controlled by ISIS for over a year and the government and coalition forces took in back in 2016.
[src](https://decider.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/mosul-netflix.png)I don't know how much of the story is based on real events but it is claimed that this elite SWAT team were a real group of people although I would imagine that some liberties were taken in their representation. It would be interesting to find out how much of it is fiction and how much is fact.
We start the movie out with a literal bang as 2 lessor police officers are pinned down and their position is being overrun by ISIS. When all seems lost (out of ammo, surrounded) the all of a sudden hear a rash of gunfire only to discover that the shooting stops and they are still alive. This is when we are introduced to the SWAT team and their leader, Colonel Kaveh.
[src](https://i2.wp.com/www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/mosul-movie-1604950975-1.jpg?crop=152px%2C0px%2C570px%2C380px&resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1)Kaveh and his crew seem to answer to no one and are on a mission that they will not disclose. Yet, they still pick up a young police officer that the rescued at the start and without going through the proper channels, simply absorb him into their crew. The story is primarily shown through his perspective or Kaveh's.
I know there are a million war films out there but this one finally tells a story through the perspective that isn't the Americans. In fact, even though the Americans were in fact a very big part of the liberation of Mosul, we never see any of them in the film at all.
The movie is tense, engaging, and the pace keeps you glued to the screen all the way through. This is important because unless you speak Farsi (again, I might have the language wrong) you are going to miss a lot of what is going on if you screw around and look at your phone while it is going on. I never felt like I was bored and this is pretty important with movies with subtitles.
Should I watch it?
I'm normally a big fan of foreign films these days and think that they have a fantastic opportunity to be better than Hollywood films as much of what happens in Hollywood is solely about making money on yet another superhero film. Therefore, much of what comes out of that is lacking in substance or it is just another cookie-cutter film probably starring the Rock in some capacity. This is not like that at all. Netflix does not disclose their budgets on films but this one looks to have cost a LOT. It is one of the better films that I have seen in recent times and unless you really hate reading subtitles, you should definitely see it.
