8 Documentaries Which Will Change The Way You See The World

6. Dirty Wars

Warfare in the 21st century is a considerably different beast than it was during the second world war €“ gone are the days of huge standing armies facing off across expansive battlefields; instead, war is fought asymmetrically, with high-tech surveillance-led covert operations and drone strikes the more common method of attack. The covert nature of the US's military involvement in the Middle East and Africa is the subject of Dirty Wars, a documentary by investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill, the reporter previously known for uncovering the war crimes of Blackwater, the American government's best funded private military contractors (otherwise known as mercenaries). Playing out a little like a real life version of the George Clooney movie Syriana, Dirty Wars uncovers the cover-up of Afghan civilians and the extra-judicial killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen assassinated by special forces, and asks whether the war on terror has taken things too far, blurring the line between legitimate self-defence and the moral implications of killing perceived enemies without granting them a right to a trial. It certainly sheds light on the complex, shadowy nature of covert operations, and serves as a potent counter-balance to the more simplistic view on military intervention abroad seen in some Hollywood movies.