From time to time at least one goes to the cinema (or the theatre - given that this is a very play-like scenario) to think the unthinkable, or "visit" the most dangerous places, while actually remaining in circumstances of total security and safety far from any real-life trouble. It's a bizarre circumstance in a way, if a big part of what theatre or cinema are supposed to be about, but perhaps we also owe it to those (few) unfortunates among our fellow human beings who actually have to deal with - or spend time in - the situations portrayed. Here we are recreating the altogether-still-topical circumstance of the taking, and the threatened or actual beheading, of Western hostages by Islamist extremists. Our unfortunate hero Adam (well-portrayed by Irish actor Stephen Hogan) is already captive (in the hands of 4, also well-portrayed, Iraqis of various ages, personalities and dispositions), already locked up in the gloomy cellar, already facing the "ticking clock". In this hideous situation, there are only so many "variations on the theme" possible, and of course - in those watching - only limited possible departures from the basic stance that despises and condemns the whole business of hostage-taking as utterly wrong, and profoundly unfair and evil in its targeting of the innocent as a (very flawed) way of reaching "the guilty". So we as viewers are certainly entitled to ask if we want to bother to follow the film through, and if there is likely to be enough here to keep us watching/contemplating for 90 minutes. In my view there certainly is (including at least a few unexpected twists), and while this is very far indeed from being a fun film, it somehow repays the effort. Perhaps fortunately, those watching CANNOT ultimately imagine or envisage what these days of captivity really, REALLY, feel like, for those poor, poor people subjected to them. But this film allows us - and requires of us - at least a little solidarity with those fellow human beings finding themselves faced with it. There but for the grace of God... Yet there is also a degree of nuancing here, so this is definitely not a film for those offering unquestioning, knee-jerk support for every last thing coalition forces did in Iraq. To this extent, one might be dubious about the film, entitled to wonder if militant hostage-takers could really have any "shades of grey" at all. But then, it is to address issues like that that we actually go the cinema (or buy a DVD), at least from time to time...
