O Cerco de Jadotville

This movie based on a real battle at Jadotville, Congo defended by an Irish-contingent from the United Nations in 1961 has parallels to the more well-known We Were Soldiers (2002) based on the real events of the first major U. S. battle in the Vietnam War that occurred in Ia Drang valley in 1985. In both instances, the Irish and American soldiers were vastly out-numbered and in both cases fought a losing battle. It is important to note that in the rather remarkable fact of the few casualties of Irishmen in the actual The Siege of Jadotville because without this awareness, the battle scenes in this movie might be become unbelievable to watch. There are various scenes that seem to be overly dramatic, however, and the verbal confrontation between the U. N. Secretary and supposedly members of the U. N. Security Council came across as artificial and superficially produced. Whether the more modern explosive events surrounding the la Drang valley battle made for better cinematography or The Siege of Jadotville just lacked the popular luster of war movies, it is really hard to review this movie. However, it apparently it is an important military event for which the recognition of the Irishmen involved in this battle is worth public notice and our belated respect.