Film

Dirty Wars

Jeremy Scahill investigates America's covert military operations across the globe, following the trails of drone strikes and night raids that operate beyond public scrutiny. The film moves from Yemen to Afghanistan to Somalia, building a portrait of undeclared war conducted in shadow. It's rigorous, uneasy, and demands attention from anyone who believes accountability matters.

TMDb rating3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy investigative documentaries that play like detective work, following a reporter from one interview to the next until a murky policy turns into names, families and grievances you can't shake.

Skip it if you want a balanced overview of counterterrorism, since this is an openly one-sided case built around one reporter's outrage and his frequent presence on camera.

What it asks of you: Eighty-seven minutes of patient, sober reporting, with long stretches of conversation and travel instead of set-piece thrills, and little relief from its grim subject.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America's Elections2020

Gibney examines another hidden system—election infrastructure vulnerability—with the same urgent tone and forensic detail. It builds the same case: institutions aren't protecting us the way we think they are.

But If you find drone policy abstract, election infrastructure can feel even more distant and technical.

Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America's Elections poster

The Road to Guantanamo2006

Michael Winterbottom reconstructs the experiences of British detainees at Guantanamo, showing the human cost of America's post-9/11 military logic. It's the people-facing counterpart to Scahill's systems-level investigation.

But It's harrowing. The film doesn't distance you from suffering; it puts you inside it.

The Road to Guantanamo poster

The Battle of Algiers1966

Gillo Pontecorvo's masterpiece shows counterinsurgency doctrine in practice—the blueprint that still governs American covert operations. Understanding this film explains modern warfare structure.

But It's a 1966 Italian film about Algeria. Black-and-white, subtitled, deliberately austere. There are no shortcuts to entry.

The Battle of Algiers poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Dirty Wars

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Unmanned: America's Drone Wars2013

Both released in 2013 as independent investigations into America's drone programme; both build the same argument through different evidence. Watching them back-to-back is nearly definitive.

This aired the same year as Dirty Wars but comes from Al Jazeera's documentary unit: authoritative, unflinching, with access Scahill couldn't get. It's the parallel investigation that confirms the reporting.

But It can feel like a television documentary—more straightforward in structure, less artfully composed. Some sequences are harder to sit through because they're less mediated.

More like this (1)

Our Brand Is Crisis2015

David Franconi documents how American political operatives export regime-change tactics to Bolivia, showing Scahill's war machinery applied to elections. Same colonial logic, different tool.

But It's more straightforward documentary than Dirty Wars. Less investigation, more observation. Some sequences feel padded.

Our Brand Is Crisis poster

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Recommended by

Shadow World, Last Men in Aleppo, Shadow Company, Outrage, Unmanned: America's Drone Wars