This made-for-television movie (produced by the BBC) puts big-budget Hollywood war movies to shame with its telling of the true story of the most highly decorated British patrol since the Boer War – an eight-man SAS team inserted behind Iraqi lines during the Gulf War in January 1991.
Their top secret mission is to take out the Scud missiles, which Saddam Hussein is using to target Israel, and sever strategic communication lines between Baghdad and the mobile Scud launchers in North West Iraq.
Dropped into “scud alley” carrying 209-pound packs (the weight of a 15-stone man), Sergeant Andy McNab (Sean Bean) and his men soon find themselves surrounded by Saddam’s army.
Their radio doesn’t work; the weather is brutally cold, and they have been spotted.
Half of the patrol are captured and endure weeks of torture and interrogation at the hands of the Iraqi secret police in Baghdad. Of the eight who set out on the mission, only five return.
The film is based on a book of the same name by patrol leader Andy McNab.
Patrol member Chris Ryan – who was separated from his comrades and fought his way across Iraq to the Syrian border and freedom – wrote another account of the mission called The One That Got Away, which included contradictory versions of events and blamed McNab for not following standard operating procedures during their escape, and placed the blame of the malfunctioning radio on him.
The superb soundtrack includes a number of songs from The Clash.
Andy McNab
Sean Bean Ray
Jamie Bartlett Chris
Kevin Collins Baz
Ian Curtis Mark
Richard Graham Stan
Robert Hobbs Dinger
Steve Nicolson Tony
Rick Warden Pete
Ron Senior Jr. Iraqi Colonel
Robert Whitehead White Socks
Caz Abrahams Jeral
Nick Ashby Cyril
Barry Berk Sally
Julia Booth Katie
Melissa Carter Jilly
Alison Coles Gordon
Thomas Hall Graham
Graham Hopkins Harry
Tim Mahoney Melissa
Anna Meininger Bert
Alistair Prodgers Dinger’s Wife
Emma Chambers
Director
Tom Clegg
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Their top secret mission is to take out the Scud missiles, which Saddam Hussein is using to target Israel, and sever strategic communication lines between Baghdad and the mobile Scud launchers in North West Iraq.
The film is based on a book of the same name by patrol leader Andy McNab.
