# BRAVO TWO ZERO (Movie Review)



## Danjanou (24 Mar 2004)

In January 1991, a patrol of eight British Special Forces soldiers found themselves hundreds of miles behind enemy lines in Northern Iraq. Cut off, and unable to communicate with their HQ, surrounded by literally hundreds of enemy soldiers their actions over a couple of days would go down in the annals of modern warfare.

Bravo Two Zero is the movie adaptation of the book of the same name by Andy McNabb, a former Sergeant in the 22nd Special Air Service (SAS), and commander of the patrol. Both the book and movie recount McNab‘s version of events during the First Gulf War in 1991.

Soon after the war, and the publication of his best selling memoirs McNabb left the British Army became a writer of action adventure novels. In recent years there have been a many questions raised as to the accuracy of McNab's account of events. At least two other books to date have been written about the patrol that call into question what actually happened.

One written by another survivor, Chris Ryan places the blame for what went wrong squarely at McNab‘s feet. In Ryan‘s account, which naturally shows him in a favourable light, McNab is portrayed not a calm cool leader under fire, but more so as a bumbling idiot whose carelessness and failures caused both the missions failure, but the loss of three comrades lives.

A more recent book by Michal Asher also another former SAS member, has called into question many aspects of both McNab‘s and Ryan's accounts, especially suggesting they exaggerate their own acts of heroism and the numbers of Iraqi soldiers they both fought and killed.

The movie Bravo Two Zero was produced well before the controversy of what may or may or not happened in Northern Iraq in January 1991, and is a faithful adaptation of the book. McNab collaborated on the screenplay and acted as an advisor to the filmmakers.

The story is fairly straightforward. Prior to the launching of the ground war to liberate Kuwait, the Coalition forces became worried about the Iraqi use of Scud missiles fired at Israel. Should these attacks continue it became evident that Israel would retaliate and enter the war against Iraq. Should that happen it was more than likely that the coalition of mainly Arab states would collapse, and with it the upcoming ground campaign, something that had probably occurred to Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi high command.

Dealing with the static Scud missile bases was fairly easy for the coalition air forces. Finding and stopping the highly mobile SCUD launchers was less so. The mission of locating and finding them went to the various Special Forces units in Saudi Arabia including the SAS.

McNab was tasked to lead an eight-man patrol into Iraq to locate and destroy a fibre optic cable that was being used to transmit firing data from Baghdad to the mobile Scud sites in western Iraq. Once the cables were destroyed the launchers could not be used and the threat to Israel and the coalition would cease. His was obviously not the only patrol sent out, and they had a secondary mission to locate and destroy any SCUD launchers they came across. The radio call sign for the patrol was Bravo Two Zero.

McNab decided to have his patrol inserted at night by helicopter close to the MSR (main supply route) west of Baghdad and Tab or march to a position where they could observe the route. Almost from the beginning things began to go wrong. They found a position to observe the MSR and the buried fibre optic cables, but at dawn discovered that their OP (observation post) was close to a large concentration of Iraqi soldiers that they‘d not seen or heard during the night.

To make matters worse, their radio wasn‘t working. It was decided to leave the area at last light and as per a prearranged plan head to a helicopter pick up point, get a new radio and then carry on with the
mission. Then a young Shepard boy discovered the patrol hiding in a gully and immediately alerted the Iraqi soldiers to their presence.

What happened next was a two-hour running firefight between the eight SAS troopers and an estimated 200 heavily armed Iraqi soldiers. McNab estimates that 100 Iraqi soldiers were killed in this engagement. None of the patrol was wounded. (Asher's account suggest that McNab seriously exaggerates both the numbers of Iraqis engaged and killed). During this time the patrol was forced to abandon most of their equipment including their food, water, explosives, spare clothing, medical supplies and the malfunctioning radio.

Finally breaking contact with the Iraqis at nightfall, McNab decided that they would escape and evade north and west towards Syria a friendly power. The distance to travel on foot was almost 200 kilometres. Things continued to get worse. The temperature dropped and a severe storm developed. The patrol became separated during the storm, with three members were lost.

McNab and the four others eventually found the MSR again. Here they captured a taxi and drove it towards the Syrian border. They were within a few kilometers of the border when they were discovered at a roadblock and another running firefight occurred. Two of the patrol were killed and a third wounded. McNab and the fifth SAS trooper became separated in the fight and both were captured.

Of the three lost members of the patrol, one died of hypothermia and exposure. The second was eventually captured and imprisoned along with McNab and his comrade. The last member of the patrol, Chris Ryan actually managed to evade capture and walk to Syria and safety.

McNab covers Ryan‘s ordeal in great detail in his book. The movie, which was produced after Ryan wrote his own account (also turned into a movie) The One That Got Away, which as noted places the blame for the failures with McNab though barely mentions it.

McNab and his two comrades were tortured for several weeks while prisoners of the Iraqis. The wounded member of the patrol was kept separate from them but not spared mistreatment at the hands of his captors. Eventually all four were repatriated at the end of the ground war.

The movie Bravo Two Zero was produced by the BBC directed by Tom Clegg and stars Sean Bean ( LOTR, Shape, Ronin, Patriot Games, Golden Eye) as Sgt Andy McNab. The balance of the cast, SAS patrol members and various Iraqi characters are played by relative unknowns, although regular viewers of BBC programs may recognize a face or two.

Bean is well know to British Audiences, although he has yet to have more than a supporting role in North American productions. He turns in a fair and believable performance here. His reputation for portraying action heroes such as in the Sharpe series was probably a major factor in casting him as McNab. Bean also provides a voice over narrative that helps with moving the story along.

The movie was filmed in South Africa, and from most accounts I‘ve heard on a very limited budget. Despite this it's still worth watching. There is tradition "low budget made for TV movies" being as good as their major Hollywood counterparts, for example the efforts of Turner, and/or HBO.

The movie follows the book, that is to say McNab‘s version of what happened summarized above quite faithfully. South Africa was chosen as a suitable stand in for Iraq. Due to the various conflicts in the region, a large supply of Soviet military equipment, which is/was also in use by the Iraqi military was available to the producers and appears in the film.

In addition to this the other military aspects of the film are also realistic. The various firefights are well staged, with none of the standard Hollywood pyrotechnics and stunt men flying through the air. McNab acted as an advisor, and it‘s obvious he ensured realism, at least in regards to how the SAS are portrayed. Their uniforms, equipment, weapons handling, language, and tactics all appear to be correct. There is even a scene showing the difficulties of performing simple toilet activities in an OP.

The unique sense of humour shared by all military personal is also shown here. One scene shows members of the patrol hiding a heavy chuck of concrete in a colleague's rucksack as a practical joke. There is also a running joke regarding the quality, and colour, of the hard candies that the patrol has been issued.

The movie is fast paced especially the battle sequences and there is a sense of almost palpable tension throughout it. The score and cinematography serve to enhance this mood throughout.

The film is violent and graphic, especially in showing the after effects of combat and in the scenes showing the torture of the prisoners at the hands of the Iraqi military. Given the subject matter at hand though this is understandable and is in no way gratuitous. To gloss over these aspects would have in my opinion been a disservice.

The DVD is offered in wide screen version with Dolby digital surround sound and contains a few extras. There is the standard scene selection feature and the movie trailer is included. Naturally several other trailers are also â Å“included.â ? A subtitle or hard of hearing feature is available and may be useful if one is not used to the thick British accents of some of the characters.

My only real beef with this movie to be honest is the ongoing controversy regarding how much if anything in McNab‘s version of events is true. I read the book when it first came out and like many accepted it as gospel. 

It took me a while to view the movie, and in the interim the whole controversy has grown up. Unfortunately this coloured somewhat my enjoyment of this movie. That said and done it is still a welcome addition to my collection of military movies. I‘m just not sure if it should be filed under fiction or non-fiction anymore.


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## Danjanou (24 Mar 2004)

Ok a quick point before the buck buck game starts. As with all the book/movie reviews I post here, this was written for a consumer review site, hence the explanations of such things as OPs and what that most military types know, or at least should know.

I finally got to see this movie this week after picking it up at HMV. I read the book years ago when it first came out. Like many I have also followed the controvery that started with both Ryan‘s and the Asher‘s books that call into question what really happened to B2Z.

What I‘ve written is a review of the movie which was made prior to the Asher book, and is a fairly good interpretation of the book on which it‘s based on. How accurate that book in turn really is, well......

Ok intermission over fire away.


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## Redeye (24 Mar 2004)

Number One Gun On...

Actually, I‘d say that‘s a pretty good review.  While I have my doubts about McNab‘s story after reading other relevant works, I too accepted it as gospel when I first read it.  Your review is well written for its intended audience (as well as ours), and covers concisely the fact that for what it is, the movie is effective.

I was impressed by how un-Hollywood the firefights (and general screenplay) was done, it seemed more like the cheesy (but accurate) CF training films (the Battle Procedure one comes to mind), but with enough pyro to be believable.  If only the story itself were as believable.


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## Northern Touch (30 Mar 2004)

Ive read McNabs version but unfortunitly not the other 2.  Good story, detailed, but did seem a little heroic, although he never really did blame anybody else for what happened, so why would they blame him?  Guess ill have to read the other versions.


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## RCD (5 Apr 2004)

Their tactics that they used is of Commonwealth standard.


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## portcullisguy (5 Apr 2004)

I cannot believe that McNab survived through a decade of soldiering in the very best special forces unit in the Commonwealth, and advanced to the rank of Sergeant while so employed, but suddenly became "a bumbling idiot" as Ryan purportedly views him in the reviewer‘s assessment of Ryan‘s own book.

Of course he wrote himself out to be a bit of a hero (although he does seem to take some of the responsibility for losing Ryan and the other two during their E&E).  Who doesn‘t, when recalling a "war story" (and that is essentially what this is).

Cast that aside, however, and focus on McNab recalling his days in captivity, and I think you will agree that it is hardly an exaggeration.  The Iraqis are certainly capable of far worse treatment than what McNab got, as was evidenced only last week in Najab.

I haven‘t yet read Ryan‘s book, but plan to very soon.  I actually met Sean Bean, who played Andy McNab in the BBC movie, and he explained his impressions on meeting McNab during the filming of the movie.  Sean described McNab as "a wiry sort of guy" only a couple inches shorter than himself, and with a look as hard as nails, although he said he was very friendly towards him (Sean himself was very pleasant, and signed an autograph for me).  Sean had heard of the various stories reputing McNab‘s recollection of 1991, but dismissed them without taking either side.

As for the other book out there, reputedly written by a "historian" who travelled to Iraq to interview sources and see the location of the battle and the LUP discussed in the book, without having read the book I can only say that it is simply one person‘s investigation of an event that they themselves were not a part of, and should be weighed on those merits alone.


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## Redeye (5 Apr 2004)

> Originally posted by portcullisguy:
> [qb] As for the other book out there, reputedly written by a "historian" who travelled to Iraq to interview sources and see the location of the battle and the LUP discussed in the book, without having read the book I can only say that it is simply one person‘s investigation of an event that they themselves were not a part of, and should be weighed on those merits alone. [/qb]


First off, Asher isn‘t a "historian", he‘s an ex-Para who speaks fluent Arabic and has travelled extensively through the Arab world.  His familiarity with Bedouin and their customs was what motivated him to do his research.  He also was primarily motivated by a desire to exonerate Vince Phillips, who receives the lion‘s share of blame for the MCF that B20 turned into, and by virtue of being dead, cannot defend himself.  His story is far from perfect, but he even goes into reasons why he may not have been getting the facts in his book.

Asher‘s book isn‘t just his account, it meshes well with other sources (most especially ex-22 SAS RSM Peter Radcliffe) and their disputing the nature of the the incident.  Neither of them call McNab a liar directly, but they point out a number of glaring inconsistencies.  In their respective books, Ryan and McNab don‘t even agree on the patrol‘s mission!

Read B20 and The One That Got Away concurrently and you‘ll see details and timelines don‘t perfectly match up.  Add in Asher‘s The Real Bravo Two Zero, and Radcliffe‘s Eye of the Storm, and you‘ll start to get an idea of the story from all perspectives.  From there, you can start to draw your conclusions.  I think you‘ll find that none of their accounts are perfect, but you start to get the idea.

Without a doubt McNab endured a terrible experience, and without a doubt, his story, to the degree at least that it is true, is phenomenal.  Radcliffe‘s rhetorical question in his book is why these guys felt the need to trump their tales up into something they weren‘t, when what they were, at face value, was amazing enough to sell books.


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## Pieman (8 Apr 2004)

Danjanou,

Thanks for posting that review! I read Bravo Two Zero a few years ago, in a history class actually. I would not have known about the movie otherwise.

The movie itself was well done. Despite a moderate budget, it is much better than many of the expensive Hollywood movies out there. I think is one of the best war movies I have seen in recent years.

I do not know how much of the story was elaborated upon, but if anything, the story of these guys shows how strong people are capable of being. Given the situation they were in, I think it is really amazing that any of them made it back alive at all. 

It also shows the bennifit of being able to run fast for a long time! A good modivation for PT, I think.


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## GerryCan (10 Apr 2004)

I read Bravo 2 Zero while I was in Battle School and thought it to be a bit far fetched but a good book. I then read The Real Bravo 2 Zero and as well as many others became very confused as to what really did happen. After I watched the Movie I decided that I don‘t really want to have much to do with the topic as it was a horrible movie and made the whole situation look like a GI Joe episode. Ridiculous, as far as the books, a good read, but who knows who to believe?


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## triniman (19 Nov 2006)

A few years ago, a guy in my unit recommended this book, Bravo Two Zero, by Andy McNabb, which tells McNabb's story in the first gulf war, with the British SAS.

I still haven't read it, but I did watch the movie yesterday, which stars Sean Bean.

It was alright, but I didn't get a sense that they did anything extraordinarily heroic.  I'm sure the book is better and more accurate.

Has anyone seen the film (a BBC production) or read the book?


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## pipesnake (19 Nov 2006)

Both. It's an alright read but judging by some other accounts take it with a grain of salt.


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## George Wallace (19 Nov 2006)

This being a 'military site' it has been discussed quite a bit.  I will merge your inquiry in with the rest.

As for his book; again there have been more than one book from him and several other members of the SAS who tell a different story than that told by McNabb.

There are also more than one movie on the subject.  Sean Bean stars in one, and I forget who starred in another.......both titled Bravo Two Zero.


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## The Rifleman (30 Nov 2006)

I think it is a well known fact that McNab embellished a few facts and made out incidents to be a little more exciting than they really were. As an "author" myself I can understand the temptation. Another factor in why there are so many versions of the truth is the fact that people interpret the same events differently - ask any beat cop and he will back that up.


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## ArmyRick (30 Nov 2006)

I have read all the books being discussed except for RSM Radcliffes. 

My view is this. An 8 man SAS patrol with 5.56mm and 66mm M72 weapons took on an armored groupd consisting of BMPs and BTRs? Bull. At the very least the russian 14.5mm MG would have torn them to peices. I won't go into more detail but I found it to be quite a stretch on the battle scene when they first got compromised.


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