10 Awesome War Movies About Obscure Conflicts

The Cold War was hot. Although a nuclear confrontation never took place, there was a lot of proxy fighting in the developing world. The Democratic Republic of Congo saw some of the meanest and most politically complex violence, and the country remains volatile to this day.

In 1961, Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba was assassinated. In the ensuing crisis, Irish UN peacekeepers were sent in to ensure that bloodshed was avoided.

Bloodshed was not avoided.

At Jadotville, a small strategic outpost, a group of UN soldiers was besieged by a larger force of French mercenaries who were sent to protect foreign mining operations. The siege of Jadotville was later expunged from the historical record, considered an awkward embarrassment.

This movie, made in 2016 by Netflix, restages the siege, showcasing the courage and combat chops of the Irish soldiers stationed at Jadotville and rescuing them from the obscurity into which they were unjustly flung by the military and political powers of the time.

And The Siege of Jadotville makes this point well, showing the heroism of the Irish peacekeepers, who were abandoned by their superiors but used their limited resources and their wits to resist a far greater force.

Though it oversimplifies the knotty geopolitics of postcolonial resource wars, it features some extraordinary combat scenes and some powerful performances. Very much worth a watch.