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When terror rears its ugly head

Mosul, now streaming on Netflix, is a riveting tale of the strife-torn Iraqi city.

Mosul, a war drama, has become a talking point after it started streaming on Netflix recently. The iconic city of Iraq shot into limelight after its cultural and material riches were ravaged by Daesh militants during 2014-17, and is now the subject of the eponymous film, which is produced by Joe and Anthony Russo of The Avengers fame. The makers have taken the city and its struggle with terror to a global audience that is largely apolitical and possibly oblivious to the geopolitical developments.

To say the Middle East has been a tinderbox would be an understatement. The entry of Daesh militants only made it more explosive. At the news desk, one often comes across stories on the ghastly events taking place in Mosul, and elsewhere in Iraq and Syria. Those of us who are from the subcontinent, these are not places we are very familiar with. These are just places where some events take place — Mosul, Fallujah and the city of Raqqa in Syria have remained a part of the international news cycle for many years as Daesh militants kept them under brutal stranglehold.

Even as one heard of despicable things being perpetrated by bigots, there were heartwarming stories of courage and resistance on the ground. One such story is the subject of this film, which features buildings crumbling after a blast, abandoned cars, military vehicles and decaying corpses lying on the streets. A group of policemen is seen taking on the brutal might of Daesh members. This group, known as Nineveh SWAT, is central to the plot, which is based on real-life events narrated in a New Yorker article written by Luke Mogelson.

Mogelson embedded with the group and gave a first-person account of the valour, dilemmas and weaknesses of the anti-Daesh fighters. It’s a long read and I remember skimming through the article that shone a more nuanced light on anti-Daesh fighters. The film has cleverly picked incidents and events that lend themselves to a Hollywood drama. The nuance gives way to theatrics and melodrama, but the substance of the original work is not lost. In fact, it reaches a larger audience in a way a longform piece could never have.

Mosul chronicles the efforts of former officers of the elite police force to rid the city of Daesh. Major Jasem (Suhail Dabbach) is the leader of the pack, who is joined by Kawa (Adam Bessa), a policeman, after his uncle gets killed during a shootout. Real-life footage is interspersed with narratives as we see the force navigating through the strife-torn city. We see brave men, including the leader of the group, falling one by one in a bid to confront the terror group.

Today, Mosul is rebuilding itself, and the UAE has been an important part of this process. The latter has launched a Dh50 million five-year project with Unesco to renovate and restore the famed 12th century Al Nuri Mosque and its iconic leaning minaret. It is from the ramparts of this mosque that Abu Bakar Al Baghdadi had declared the creation of caliphate. It was his first and last speech as the Daesh chief in 2014.

Iraqi government had estimated that at least $2 billion aid was needed to rebuild Mosul. The UAE Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, Noura Al Kaabi, had once said, “By rebuilding a fraction of the past, Iraq can shape its future as an inclusive, tolerant and open society, which has always found a tangible manifestation in Mosul’s rich historical sites.”

In a recent article on an Iraqi website, the Minister said the UAE is cooperating with its global partners, such as Unesco and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, in launching a comprehensive training programme to build the capacities of Mosul’s youth in the areas of architecture, engineering, urban development and handicrafts. Al Kaabi noted that the first phase of the mosque’s reconstruction ended several months ago and the rest of the work was on track with the planned timeline.

The film may feel lacking in substance in parts, but its triumph is in making its subject a talking point in living rooms across the world, thereby sensitising the public as well as the aid agencies on the urgency to salvage Mosul.

sreenivasa@khaleejtimes.com