The Siege of Jadotville (film)

The Siege of Jadotville
Netflix release poster
Directed by Richie Smyth
Produced by
Written by
Starring
Music by Joseph Trapanese
Cinematography Nikolaus Summerer
Edited by Alex Mackie
Distributed by Netflix
Release date
  • July 10, 2016 (2016-07-10) (Galway Film Festival)
  • September 19, 2016 (2016-09-19) (Ireland)
  • October 7, 2016 (2016-10-07) (Worldwide)
Running time
 108 minutes
Country Ireland
South Africa
Language English
Irish
French
German

The Siege of Jadotville is a 2016 historical drama war film directed by Richie Smyth[1] and written by Kevin Brodbin.[2] The film is based on Declan Power's book, The Siege at Jadotville: The Irish Army's Forgotten Battle (2005), about an Irish army unit's role in the UN peacekeeping mission in the Congo in September 1961.[3]

First screened at the 2016 Galway Film Festival,[4] the film received a limited cinema distribution in Ireland in September 2016.[5] It had simultaneous worldwide distribution on Netflix and in a number of US iPic Theaters during October 2016.[6][7] It won three Irish Film & Television Awards, including Best Director.

Plot

The film opens with the assassination of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and the outbreak of civil war. As the mineral rich State of Katanga secedes under the leadership of Moise Tshombe, United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld assigns Conor Cruise O'Brien to head up a UN peacekeeping mission. Privately, Hammarskjöld tells O'Brien that the Katanga crisis could trigger World War III and orders the Irish diplomat to take offensive action.

Meanwhile, Irish Army Commandant Pat Quinlan commands an infantry company of Irish peacekeepers who arrive at the UN compound near Jadotville. After examining the compound, Quinlan decides that it is wide open to attack and orders his men to dig trenches.

While buying food in the nearest town, Quinlan meets French mercenary Rene Faulques, who has been hired by the mining companies allied to Tshombe's Government. Afterwards, he visits the estate of a Belgian colonist, Madam LaFongagne, who tells him that Jadotville contains the world's richest uranium deposits.

Meanwhile, O'Brien orders UN forces to launch an attack against Government buildings held by the Katangese in Elizabethville. While Indian peacekeepers are attempting to seize the city's radio station, thirty unarmed Katangese are killed by gunfire and grenades. O'Brien orders the incident to be swept under the rug.

In retaliation, Faulques receives orders to attack Jadotville. Katangese forces and mercenaries under Faulques, attack and besiege the Irish. During a brief ceasefire, Faulques vainly demands Quinlan's surrender.

Quinlan refuses, and his company is attacked repeatedly in separate waves by the Katangese/mercenary forces. They kill a total of 300 enemy soldiers, and wound 1,000 enemy soldiers, with zero Irish deaths and only 16 Irish wounded.

After many extended waves of battle, the Irish company is forced to surrender to Faulques's troops after running out of ammunition. They are held in a Katangese prison for about a month, then are freed in a prisoner exchange deal and are allowed to go home.

Selected cast

Production

The film is based on Declan Power's non-fiction book, The Siege at Jadotville: The Irish Army's Forgotten Battle (2005).[8][9] It covers the Siege of Jadotville, a conflict involving Irish Army UN Peacekeepers and Katangese forces during the Congo Crisis in September 1961.[5][3]

The actors were put through a training camp in South Africa before filming. "There's nothing worse than watching actors acting like they're in an action movie, pretending to run upstairs with guns and look serious," said director Ritchie Smythe. "The best way to get them to do that realistically is just to train them to be soldiers, so I did."[10]

Actor Jamie Dornan said the real veterans "didn't get the recognition they deserved. In fact the opposite. They got that term Jadotville Jacks. They have had to live with that and they appreciate any light that can be shone on their heroics."[11]

Reception

At the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 60% based on 10 reviews, and the average rating is 6.2/10.[2]

The New York Times called it "a gripping drama."[12] A review in The Hollywood Reporter described the battlefield scenes as an "impressive spectacle", but said that the non-battle scenes were less so, and the conclusions "too rushed".[13] Robert Yaniz, Jr. of We Got This Covered rated the film 70%, observing: "Though it doesn't break any new ground, The Siege of Jadotville is a well-crafted piece of filmmaking that investigates the often-contentious relationship between politics and war."[14] Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times rated the film 50%, describing it as: "A scrappy war flick with a fair amount of combat suspense but a whole lot of clichéd dialogue."[15]

Accolades

Awards Category Recipients and nominees Result
Irish Film & Television Awards[16] Best Film The Siege of Jadotville Nominated
Best Director Richie Smyth Won
Best Script Kevin Brodbin Nominated
Best Actor Jamie Dornan Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Jason O'Mara Won
Best Sound The Siege of Jadotville Nominated
VFX The Siege of Jadotville Won

References

  1. ↑ "The Siege of Jadotville (2016)". IMDb. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  2. 1 2 The Siege of Jadotville. Rotten Tomatoes. 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
  3. 1 2 "28th Galway Film Fleadh - July 2016 - The Siege of Jadotville". Galwayfilmfleadh.com. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  4. ↑ "Jamie Dornan's latest film wins standing ovation at Galway Film Fleadh". Irish Independent. 11 July 2016.
  5. 1 2 "'The Siege of Jadotville' to receive limited cinema release". Irish Times. 12 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  6. ↑ "First trailer of Siege of Jadotville is nail-biting". RTÉ. 10 September 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  7. ↑ "National Association of Theatre Owners Chief Sounds Alarm Over Netflix Deal With iPic". Variety. 5 October 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2016. [..] iPic [..has..] a theatrical foothold on 15 U.S. locations. That will be particularly important for Netflix films that need some kind of theatrical run to qualify for awards. IPic will release the war thriller "The Siege of Jadotville," starring Jamie Dornan ("Fifty Shades of Grey"), on Oct. 7
  8. ↑ "The True Story of the Heroic Battle That Inspired the New Netflix Film The Siege of Jadotville". Time Magazine. 27 July 2016. [...] author and military expert Declan Power, on whose book, Siege at Jadotville, the new movie is based.
  9. ↑ "Film 'Siege of Jadotville' to reveal heroism of Irish troops". Irish Times. 9 August 2014. [...] military writer Declan Power – on whose book, The Siege of Jadotville, the film will be based
  10. ↑ Saunders, Tristram Fane (7 October 2016). "'I really didn't want to see Jamie Dornan naked': The Siege of Jadotville's director on filming Ireland's secret war". The Telegraph.
  11. ↑ Clarke, Donald (19 September 2016). "The Siege of Jadotville: How Ireland almost had its own Alamo". Irish Times.
  12. ↑ Genzlingersept, Neil (28 September 2016). "'The Siege of Jadotville' on Netflix Rediscovers a Faded Footnote". New York Times.
  13. ↑ "'The Siege of Jadotville': TV Review". The Hollywood Reporter. 6 October 2016.
  14. ↑ Yaniz, Robert Jr. (October 9, 2016). "The Siege Of Jadotville Review". We Got This Covered.
  15. ↑ Abele, Robert (October 6, 2016). "Review: Forgotten battle told in 'The Siege of Jadotville'". Los Angeles Times.
  16. ↑ "IFTA FILM & DRAMA NOMINEES 2017". Irish Film and Television Academy. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
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