Review of The Siege of Jadotville (2016) by Grant S — 12 Oct 2018

A bit hammy but quite interesting and entertaining.

The Congo, 1961. Due to escalating tensions in the area, the UN sends in a company of Irish peacekeepers into the province of Katanga. They are to hold the town of Jadotville at all costs. The local warlord recruits 1,000 French mercenaries, ostensibly to protect the mines in the area. However, after the UN goes on the offensive, the mercenaries are unleashed on the Irish company. The odds are stacked against the Irish, and their UN bosses don't appreciate the precariousness of their situation.

Not immediately engaging, but gets better. The set up was quite weak, the character development token and some of the performances left a lot to be desired (so many bad fake Irish accents!). Moreover, it was not obvious whether the enemy were actually the bad guys - the warlord initially seemed to have a good case to defend the area.

However, it gets better as the movie goes on. It becomes clear that the warlord is even worse than he was initially portrayed and the bad guys really are the bad guys. The battle scenes are great and the suspense and engagement ramps up.

Overall, an interesting and entertaining depiction of one of history's lesser-known battles and conflicts.