{"id":6372,"date":"2020-12-06T11:38:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-06T18:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/?p=6372"},"modified":"2020-12-09T13:59:32","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T20:59:32","slug":"mosul-whirlwind-of-a-movie-anchored-by-legitimately-visceral-sequences-throughout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/2020\/mosul-whirlwind-of-a-movie-anchored-by-legitimately-visceral-sequences-throughout\/","title":{"rendered":"Mosul * Whirlwind of a Movie Anchored by Legitimately Visceral Sequences Throughout"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/MOSUL.jpg?resize=137%2C201&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6373\" width=\"137\" height=\"201\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>An Iraqi journalist joins an army of uneasy allies in the battle to liberate the city of Mosul from the Islamic State. KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Benjamin P. comments, \u201cMosul is a whirlwind of a movie anchored by legitimately visceral sequences throughout and brisk pacing that the film sustains from beginning to end. In an environment where streaming has become the predominant mode of consuming content, it\u2019s gratifying to get a movie this immersive, one that never truly lets up and one that will certainly keep you invested in the different directions it goes in.\u201d See his full review and interview below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mosul<br>By Benjamin P., Kids First! Film Critic, Age 14<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mosul is a whirlwind of a movie anchored by legitimately visceral sequences throughout and brisk pacing that the film sustains from beginning to end. In an environment where streaming has become the predominant mode of consuming content, it\u2019s gratifying to get a movie this immersive, one that never truly lets up and one that will certainly keep you invested in the different directions it goes in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jZYxxMNQt3o\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>Based on a New Yorker article from 2017 and produced by the Russo Brothers and the production company AGBO, Mosul takes place in the titular city and follows the exploits of the Nineveh SWAT team which gained their prestige through their clashes against ISIS forces. We meet the team through the eyes of Kawa, a rookie cop who is ushered into team by the steely commander Jasem, after they save Kawa and his seasoned partner mid-ambush. With ISIS on the retreat from the city and the arrival of a new command, the team has gone rogue and decides to carry out one final mission of their own, the details of which are kept from Kawa, but we come to find it\u2019s rooted in a far more personal place than the ones they\u2019ve gone through prior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through the absorbing bend much of the film takes, we are put in the heat of battle at every turn, but it\u2019s rarely energetic and that becomes an effective element of the film\u2019s tone. There is a weariness to each encounter with the enemy as they occur with increasing frequency and over the course of their journey; these soldiers are just trying to survive and here\u2019s where Mosul cements its stakes breathlessly and efficiently. It begins to feel inevitable that the Nineveh will lose one of their own nearly every time they make contact with ISIS\u2019s opposing forces. What sets Mosul apart from similarly tactical minded flicks is the moments of loss it frequently hammers home. In between the intensity of the action and each waypoint on their venture, there are moments of stillness where we get to witness the fighter\u2019s true colors which makes their losses sting with greater severity, sometimes it\u2019s commentating over a soap opera on television and at others, it\u2019s cruising in a Humvee through the ruins of Mosul, as they\u2019re reminded of why they fight and who they\u2019re fighting for. The secret sauce that really makes those points of the film work when the team isn\u2019t being rained down on by gunfire is that they\u2019re still actively pushing the story forward and doing the necessary work to engage us with the characters at the center of the story. Mosul\u2019s structure reminds me of that of a video game, with each conflict or objective so to speak, being separated by points of exposition and development, but it works for a mission-focused narrative in this case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Z9bw8MGkB-A\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>Mosul\u2019s scenes of battle can get pretty brutal so I recommend this for ages 16 to 18 for some moments of extreme intensity and some graphic violence at times. Mosul is a raw testament to the heroism of the Nineveh SWAT team with an unexpectedly emotional conclusion and I greatly recommend it. I give Mosul 3.5 out of 5 stars. You can see it when it drops on Netflix on November 26, 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Iraqi journalist joins an army of uneasy allies in the battle to liberate the city of Mosul from the Islamic State. KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Benjamin P. comments, \u201cMosul is a whirlwind of a movie anchored by legitimately visceral sequences throughout and brisk pacing that the film sustains from beginning to end. In an environment where streaming has become the predominant mode of consuming content, it\u2019s gratifying to get a movie this immersive, one that never truly lets up and one that will certainly keep you invested in the different directions it goes in.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[1783,2524,2523,2526,2522,2529,2530,1166,2525,2521,2528,2527],"class_list":["post-6372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feature-film-reviews","tag-by-kids-for-kids","tag-covid","tag-covid-19","tag-daycare","tag-essential-workers","tag-loira-limbal","tag-loira-limbal-documentary","tag-movie-reviews","tag-pandemic","tag-single-mothers","tag-through-the-night","tag-workiing-families"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paS5I2-1EM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6372"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6377,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6372\/revisions\/6377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}