AboveDeepBuggy Some things I liked some I did not.

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

pietclausen I happened to be in Jadotville before the arrival of the Irish UN troops. The Katangese did not want the UN to be there at all and ed Moise Tshombe. Even the public aimed their hostility at the UN and praised Tsombe's mercenary forces. In Jadotville we knew that the Irish and trouble was coming, so some friends and I were evacuated to Elizabethville.I lost touch with happenings at Jadotville and one never knew what really transpired there. It is only now by coming across this film that the truth comes out and why the secrecy was kept for 45 years.I watched the film with anticipation, which also brought back many memories. I accept that the film was dramatized, but I can assure you it was no fun being there.

sddavis63 Canadian soldiers have participated in many UN peacekeeping missions over the years and have known their share of failures caused by UN bungling - Gen. Romeo Dallaire and the Rwanda massacre being the best example. That history made me as a Canadian interested in a movie about this failed UN peacekeeping mission. Apparently the Irish government largely covered up this incident from the 1961 civil war in The Congo, in which a force of Irish peacekeepers was sent in under the authority of the United Nations and ended up coming under attack from a much larger force of Congolese rebels and international mercenaries. Acquitting themselves well, the fact that they were forced to surrender because they had run out of ammunition, were heavily outnumbered and because of atrocious UN bungling led to them being regarded as cowards and to their mission being considered a black mark against the Irish Army. It wasn't until the 21st century that an Irish Government review cleared "A" Company of the accusations against them and they were recognized and honoured, as they should have been all along.The story is a good one and holds up the bungling and backroom wheeling and dealing for everyone to see, while the various bunglers left "A" Company and its plight largely ignored. Where does one begin with the mistakes or bad calls that were made. An Irish company with no battle experience under the command of an officer who had read a lot about battles but had never been in one was sent into the middle of a civil war. The UN leader on the ground (O'Brien) who was an academic with no sense of the strategic realities of the situation. The French (represented in a brief scene by de Gaulle) arranging for French mercenaries to get involved in the civil war against the UN forces. A local population in the area of Jadotville (where the Irish compound was located) who didn't want the UN or the Irish there. An Irish general who seems too paralyzed to do anything. The whole thing was a tragedy waiting to happen from the very beginning.Thankfully, there's not much time given to the backstories of any of the Irish soldiers. This was meant to be a war movie (even though it was about peacekeeping) and it gets into the situation leading up to the battle pretty quickly. I thought Jamie Dornan did a fantastic job as Quinlan - the Irish commander of "A" Company, and Mark Strong as Conor Cruise O'Brien captured the image of the incompetent UN bureaucrat who knows a lot but who has no real clue what to do.This is not a very well known historical incident. I didn't realize when I sat down to watch it, for example, that this was the incident in which UN Secretary General Dag Hammerskjold was killed in a plane crash while en route to try to negotiate an end to the civil war. It's a well told story, it's only weakness perhaps being that the average viewer (not particularly aware of the incident - and I count myself among those) might have benefited from a bit more of the political background to the story, as well as a bit fuller of the negotiations that led to the Irish troops being released after their surrender and a month in captivity. (9/10)

davidtwyatt Ostensibly a war movie but the political intrigue and dark dealings of politicians add to the tale. The tension builds from the start but the politicians building their careers on the back of the beleaguered soldiers is the hidden tale. The end is real shocker, did they really get away with it and keep this story hidden for so long?

Andrei Minin Hi from Russia!The movie is good, but it is far from real story (as many movies).I researched 1960th Congo war a bit after watching this movie and found some interesting facts (sorry for poor English): Many attackers (africans) were archers or had pump rifles (but most white instructors were professionals). UN contingent was placed near Jadotville to protect white population of Jadotville but (surprise) white population was against UN contingent. Heave weapon haven't been used by gendarmes against UN troops - the target was to capture UN Irish, not to kill them all. This is most important fact explaining number of casualties on both sides (and gendarmes are not as good as army troops).Fighting scenes in the movie looks like a massacre of the innocents, I personally have nothing against the Irish, the are good guys and fighters but this movie doesn't show them as on real war, at 100% of their capabilities, it is more like being on training with live targets, shooting untrained cannon fodder armed by pistol caliber machine guns in open field by heavy machine guns and rifles. Yes, UN guys had some stress and 5 wounded but it is not a battle with equal enemy. And it was not 24/7 battle, UN personnel could visit church, make photos, sleep at night, not drinking water with diesel (it is not a whiskey, but when you want to drink, some diesel in the water is not a problem), etc.If someone is interested to find more about real story of UN in Congo war, they should check story of UN 99th Indian brigade in Katanga, who bore the brunt of the fighting in Katanga, together with Ethiopians. I hope one day someone will make movie about them (may be Bollywood?).