THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY is the better movie of the story about the British SAS unit that gets discovered by the enemy in the 1991 Iraq war. Although BRAVO TWO ZERO is technically a better movie with regards to the build up to the operation, character development and the firefight on the ground after they had been compromised the story of Chris Ryan is more compelling.
In BTZ there is a much heavier emphasis on Mcnab and his ordeal after he got captured which is where I lost interest and in all honesty found this part of the film tiresome. That's not to say that this part of Mcnabs ordeal was not harrowing and that his survival through this with his other members of his doomed unit was not a story that should be told, it's just that I'd prefer left to my imagination.
The won that got away by contrast was not so heavy on the scenes of interrogation and torture but went back and forward from Ryan to Mcnab as the movie unfolded. In all reality Ryan's escape was remarkable and that is an area of the whole story that I found incredible. This film allows the viewer to see that taking the enemy by surprise and getting into a firefight with them can cause havoc behind enemy lines as well as leaving behind a huge body count.
However on the flip side it shows that it serves of little military value to the overall war. SAS units are ideal for observation, sabotage and rescue provided they are extracted immediately. No matter how tough these guys are once hostile forces have fingered them, being outnumbered, lost, and exposed to the elements, unable to communicate makes them very vulnerable, but when the food runs out and you have no ammunition left they become completely useless. Eluding capture for so long under such conditions and eventually escaping into Syria was a miracle!
Unlike Hollywood movies with Chuck Norris and Marshall Teague that shows small units on Navy seals wiping out 100's of the the enemy, kicking ass and fighting themselves out trouble of without so much as a scratch TWTGA paints a more realistic picture. Although to be fair Black hawk down provided a more realistic insight into the hazards of special forces operations, but even then it was a much larger operation with over 500 men with ground and air support.
Note: NBC's TV series 'JAG' actually portrayed a similar fictional American operation where the one soldier that got away was actually court-Marshalled for desertion.)
In BTZ there is a much heavier emphasis on Mcnab and his ordeal after he got captured which is where I lost interest and in all honesty found this part of the film tiresome. That's not to say that this part of Mcnabs ordeal was not harrowing and that his survival through this with his other members of his doomed unit was not a story that should be told, it's just that I'd prefer left to my imagination.
The won that got away by contrast was not so heavy on the scenes of interrogation and torture but went back and forward from Ryan to Mcnab as the movie unfolded. In all reality Ryan's escape was remarkable and that is an area of the whole story that I found incredible. This film allows the viewer to see that taking the enemy by surprise and getting into a firefight with them can cause havoc behind enemy lines as well as leaving behind a huge body count.
However on the flip side it shows that it serves of little military value to the overall war. SAS units are ideal for observation, sabotage and rescue provided they are extracted immediately. No matter how tough these guys are once hostile forces have fingered them, being outnumbered, lost, and exposed to the elements, unable to communicate makes them very vulnerable, but when the food runs out and you have no ammunition left they become completely useless. Eluding capture for so long under such conditions and eventually escaping into Syria was a miracle!
Unlike Hollywood movies with Chuck Norris and Marshall Teague that shows small units on Navy seals wiping out 100's of the the enemy, kicking ass and fighting themselves out trouble of without so much as a scratch TWTGA paints a more realistic picture. Although to be fair Black hawk down provided a more realistic insight into the hazards of special forces operations, but even then it was a much larger operation with over 500 men with ground and air support.
Note: NBC's TV series 'JAG' actually portrayed a similar fictional American operation where the one soldier that got away was actually court-Marshalled for desertion.)
