Netflix Viewers Call Brutal Hidden-Gem War Film a ‘Masterpiece’ — With Some Ranking It Alongside Black Hawk Down and The Hurt Locker
War films rarely escape comparisons with Black Hawk Down and The Hurt Locker, two movies that helped set the modern standard for depicting the chaos and terror of combat.
But Netflix viewers say one comparatively overlooked film deserves to be mentioned alongside them.
The 2019 Arabic-language war thriller Mosul is attracting extraordinary praise from audiences, with viewers describing it as a “hidden gem,” a “masterpiece” and one of the most realistic depictions of urban warfare they have seen.
One viewer went as far as calling it “the BEST war movie since Black Hawk Down.”
Another offered perhaps the most revealing compliment of all:
“Astoundingly real.”
A War Story Told From the Streets of Mosul
Written and directed by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Mosul draws inspiration from real events surrounding the 2016 Battle of Mosul, when Iraqi forces fought to reclaim the city from ISIS.
Rather than approaching the conflict through the familiar perspective of Western soldiers, the movie follows an Iraqi SWAT team fighting through the devastated city.
The story begins when a young police officer is rescued from an insurgent attack.
He subsequently joins the SWAT unit responsible for saving him and is pulled into an increasingly dangerous mission filled with secrecy and relentless fighting.
That intimate perspective helps give Mosul much of the authenticity viewers have praised.
Suhail Dabbach’s Performance Wins Huge Praise
The film stars Suhail Dabbach, alongside Is’haq Elias, Hayat Kamille, Thaer Al-Shayei, Adam Bessa, Ahmad Elghanem and Waleed Elgadi.
Dabbach’s performance in particular has drawn glowing reactions.
One critic described Carnahan’s film as a “hard-hitting, must-see movie” and called Dabbach’s work “Oscar-worthy.”
Another praised Mosul for combining effective action with “an important message and a lot of heart.”
The film was inspired by journalist Luke Mogelson’s 2017 New Yorker article, “The Desperate Battle to Destroy ISIS,” and was filmed in Marrakesh, Morocco.
It premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2019 before arriving on Netflix in November 2020.
Viewers Compare It to Some of the Greatest Modern War Films
Audience reaction has been even more enthusiastic.
One IMDb reviewer called Mosul the “best movie about urban warfare, post Black Hawk Down,” praising its combination of relentless action and storytelling.
Another argued that the film competes with considerably more expensive Hollywood productions.
“Better than most big budget films,” the viewer wrote, placing it alongside Lone Survivor, American Sniper and The Outpost.
Others emphasized its brutality and intensity.
“One of the best war action thrillers in last few years,” one review declared. “It’s brutal, bloody, very realistic and intense.”
Another viewer even compared its combat sequences to Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, claiming the fight scenes were better.
‘It’s Hard to Believe There’s a Film Crew There’
But perhaps the most consistent praise surrounds the movie’s sense of authenticity.
Rather than making its battles feel polished or spectacular, Mosul puts audiences into cramped streets and shattered buildings alongside its characters.
For one viewer, the illusion was almost complete.
“A movie so engaging that it’s hard to believe there’s a film crew there with lights and cameras,” they wrote.
Their verdict was just two words:
“Astoundingly real.”
Another simply called the movie “absolutely riveting,” adding that among the relatively few films they would describe as essential viewing, Mosul was one of them.
A Netflix War Film That Flew Under the Radar
Despite premiering at Venice and earning strong reviews, Mosul never became as culturally dominant as many of the Hollywood war movies to which viewers now compare it.
That may be precisely why audiences discovering it on streaming have responded so strongly.
There are no sprawling Hollywood heroics at the center of the story. Instead, the focus remains on an Iraqi unit fighting street by street through a city devastated by war.
The result is a film viewers repeatedly describe with the same words: brutal, intense, authentic and unforgettable.
For anyone who thought Black Hawk Down or The Hurt Locker set an impossibly high bar for modern urban warfare on screen, Netflix viewers believe this overlooked 2019 thriller deserves a place in the same conversation. Mosul is available to stream on Netflix.
