Review of 6 Days (2017) by Jeffrey S — 20 Aug 2017

Simply put, this was a masterfully crafted tension filled movie that was surprisingly accurate to the real events in an almost reenactment way.

6 Days follows the events of the Iranian Embassy Siege by the SAS. It is mostly told from the perspective of the authorities. Following the chief police negotiator, the BBC news crew, and the SAS.

The movie keeps a steady pace of tension throughout and I found myself absolutely enthralled by it.

The strongest performance is by Mark Strong who plays the lead police negotiator. It's here that we get a sense of the stakes at play for everyone involved. The terrorists are mostly represented by Salim, who calls for the release of arab prisoners in Iran in the wake of the Iranian revolution. However the Iranian government absolutely refuses to play ball, instead preferring that the hostages be martyred for the cause. The newly installed Thatcher government is adamant that the terrorists will not be allowed to walk in order to show how tough it is. You feel Mark Strong's frustration at essentially negotiating with his hands completely tied, and you also feel empathy for Salim trying to get his demands met while keeping the more militant parts of the terrorist group in check.

The SAS meanwhile, are competent and dedicated to the task of rescuing the hostages. However they're also chomping at the seams to burst in guns blazing negotiations be damned. The main action comes from fascinating "what if?" training scenarios of other possible plans for the siege, and keeps the movie moving along nicely.

When the inevitable happens and a hostage is killed (by an Iranian nationalist goading one of the Arab terrorists). The tension in the theater was so heavy you could hear a pin drop in the silence.

I actually heard a lady behind me gasp once the actual siege started and a glass window was accidentally kicked in too early.

If there is any flaws in the movie, I would say it is twofold. First is that the BBC reporter receives quite a bit of screen time but honestly does not add much to the movie. You could have taken out many of her scenes and have not lost anything with regards to pacing.

Second during the actual siege a point of controversy arose when two of the terrorists surrendered and according to hostage eyewitness accounts, the SAS lined them up against a wall and executed them. This scene is nowhere to be seen in 6 Days and instead the terrorists pull their weapons and are killed by the SAS.

This really should have been included as it adds onto to that grey aspect narrative, that is already built within the movie.

It's a rare movie that actually has you somewhat dread the final action sequence as you feel less like this is a thrilling action packed rewards (and action packed it is), but more of a sense of "did this really need to happen? Was this the only solution or was it forced to happen?" But you also give credit where it's due and the SAS pulled off a nearly perfect scenario. There is something to say about if terrorists even deserve sympathy once the first hostage is killed. But the fact that the movie even raises these questions in presentation says a lot about it.

So overall I highly recommend this movie. Surprisingly accurate and tense throughout. It also does make you think about the state of response to terrorism in our modern day society.