In this eye-opening documentary, we are introduced to several former drone operators and the individuals who make that job possible. You can safely ignore the "reviews" which claim to "debunk" the material based on semantics, unclear statements and somewhat badly formulated interview questions. The fact is that this film documents the horrible personal and sociological effects felt here at home by those who were participants in the mostly secret or intentionally obscured from the public drone wars under Bush, but then on steroids under Obama and Trump (and likely continuing w/ Biden).
Whether one of these individuals actually pulled the trigger or was, rather, a cog in the machine which comprises the drone war program(s) is immaterial to the filmmaker's points and the psychological impact felt by those who learned they were, as often as not, participating in the cold blooded remote murders of innocent men, women, children and infants in places far, far away (in most cases, some drones are operated from OCONUS military installations). If you're a part of the operation, directly participate in surveillance, targeting or image analysis, you're as guilty as the "pilots" (really more akin to a video game or remote controlled model plane w/ munitions) are and the subjects of this documentary recognize and acknowledge it.
To the content of the movie itself, it's essentially what you might think it is. A long hard look at what this kind of warfare and the shattered and maimed lives it leaves behind abroad does to those who carry it out. And to the would-be critics leaving IMDB reviews, especially the ones invoking the God fearing "democracy" that is allegedly the USA and the innate trust in their government which has lied to them countless times, if this program is so successful in its *stated* aims, why the dark, impenetrable curtain of secrecy? Why the million-person long lists, accessible mainly to those with high level security clearances, without any transparency whatsoever? Why are "we" still there in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other places which pose absolutely zero threat to any American civilian at home or abroad?
The answers, partially documented here, are actually quite simple and they all tie back to the intense secrecy surrounding not only the drone program(s), but many, many other policies and actions carried out in far flung countries of the Global South. It's all about the Benjamins, and anything - including exposure of its existence, the telling of the horrible psychological toll it puts on the participants, and even more so, the loss of too many innocent lives to really fathom - will be attacked from every angle possible rather than simply explained, justified and debated. To continue along that thread - and following the one this film lays out - I would argue that anyone attempting to discredit this film or discourage others from watching it are nearly as guilty as the untouchable policy makers and politicians whose military-industrial-complex constituencies they serve over the actual people in their districts and states.
9/10 with a single star deducted for some editing and in the formulation of interview questions which would have precluded several of the negative "debunking" comments based only on semantics and a claimed true understanding of this awful system.
