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An intense documentary about the tremendous tension between observation and interpretation. The pilots and gunners of attack helicopters who carry out nighttime missions in war zones make decisions with far-reaching consequences, not only for their targets, but for themselves as well; the fear of making a mistake is ever-present.
During their flights, the soldiers use thermal cameras to observe movement on the ground: anything that gives off heat lights up. From a distance, landscapes, villages, people, and animals become abstract patches of light and dark, lines, surfaces, and contours. Is the figure among them a Taliban fighter with a Kalashnikov or a shepherd with a stick?
Filmmaker Éléonore Weber had access to video recordings of French and American missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. A French helicopter pilot related his often-shocking experiences to her. What begins as a monotone video essay gradually develops a powerful tension, because as viewers we find ourselves in the pilot’s seat. We catch fragments of conversations between crew members; we look, zoom in, interpret, hesitate—and then comes the explosion.