The Siege

UK Release Date. 8 January 1999
Certification. 15
Running Time. 1 hour 56 mins
Director. Edward Zwick
Cast. Annette Bening, Sami Bouajila, Tony Shalhoub, Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington.
Rating. 49%

Review.

Released three years prior to the events of September 11, 2001, The Siege postulates what might happen if a US city becomes the target of an embedded, international terrorist cell. The backlash against foreign nationals, the vehement demands to deport immigrants, the abhorrent, illegal torture of suspects, and the hysteria that inevitably leads to the erosion of civil liberties are all too familiar in the current climate. The director, Edward Zwick, and his team of screenwriters deserve credit for the prophetic storyline, which at the time of release may have seen ridiculous, but now, sadly, seem entirely plausible.

Despite an impressive cast, the characters are quite one-dimensional. Annette Bening gets the most to work with as Elise Kraft, gradually revealing a backstory spawned from the 1990-1991 Gulf War, but otherwise there is little depth to Anthony Hubbard (Denzel Washington), Frank Haddad (Tony Shalhoub) and General William Devereaux (Bruce Willis). Also lacking is any context to the heinous acts of terrorism. The perpetrators remain silent and faceless, their agenda and motivations routinely exposed by others. 

Equally, Zwick is all too quick to portray the various arms of government - FBI, CIA and military leaders - at each others’ throats. While some degree of jurisdictional conflict is inevitable in film, The Siege carries this element to ludicrous extremes and starts to lose credibility as soon as Hubbard and Kraft fail to communicate at the most basic level.

As the threat of martial law comes ever closer, the depiction of the US Army as a blunt instrument designed to crudely trample on whatever terrain it is deployed on may ring true to many. However, in tackling the politically sensitive issue of how to respond to fanatical, blood-thirsty terrorists without resorting to their tactics, The Siege manages to be prescient and preposterous in equal measures.