The ambiguity surrounding the toll of drone warfare is a product and symptom of collective fatigue. We’re told it is an exercise in precision, yet we’re also aware, at least abstractly, that these operations are causing collateral damage, further shoring up resentment against the United States in foreign lands. The numbers of civilian deaths caused by drones are unreliable and conflicting—which only makes them easier to ignore—but it’s clear they’re an inevitable byproduct of anti-terrorist warfare in the modern age. If these death counts are ever verified, the use of drones will become much harder to put out of mind, despite Americans’ tendency to feel utterly disconnected from the violence inflicted on our behalf. Sure, we’ll hop on Facebook to weigh in on the broad strokes (like whether or not a reality TV douchebag should be the leader of the free world), but we’re hardly consulted when it comes to covert operations.
Eye in the Sky, directed by South Africa’s Gavin Hood, offers an insider point of view on drone warfare—theoretically, at least.