FLIGHT 149: HOSTAGE OF WAR

UK, 2025, 90 minutes, Colour.

Directed by Jenny Ash.

This is a 2025 documentary about events which happened 35 years earlier. 1990s saw an invasion of oil-rich Kuwait by President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, leading to international troops involved in the Gulf War, later referred to as the First Gulf War.

Memories of the event of this film have been well superseded by a quarter of a century’s events in the Middle East as well as planes crashing into the twin towers in 2001. The first Gulf War was that of President George Bush, the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by his son George W Bush. There was also the war in Afghanistan until the withdrawal of the American troops under President Biden. And, immediately preceding the release of the film, the Hamas’ attack on Israel, Israel’s attack on Gaza with the consequent deaths and inhumane treatment of the Palestinians, clashes with Hezbollah, a war with Iran and the bombing of its nuclear facilities.

The focus of this film, with solicitors interviewing survivors decades after the event, and with some dramatic reconstructions of some of the characters and episodes, is the flight, British Airways 149 which landed at Kuwait at the time of Saddam Hussein’s actual invasion. Narrative of the documentary gives the timeline, the arrival of the flight, the empty airport, the taking of the plane, its destruction, the imprisonment of the passengers, their internment in hotels, then their being scattered, used as human shields, Saddam Hussein being filmed with some of them, especially children, as propaganda.

The documentary keeps indicating the dates in August 1990 and the number of days that the passengers were detained.

On the one hand, there are significant interviews with passengers and crew remembering what they experienced at the time, quite emotionally effected, older men now, a little girl now grown-up, a wife, representatives in the area. On the other hand, the issue of what the British government knew, the foreign office, the Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, scenes with her giving speeches, with President Bush, various members of her staff and government.

The film contributes to an exploration of what British Airways knew, at the time and afterwards, the role of the government, the secrecy.

Also the centre of the consequences of the experience, a great deal of post-traumatic stress, evidenced in the interviews with the survivors as well as the dramatic reconstructions of episodes.

The film offers 90 minutes of exploration, testimony from those involved, and for audiences interested in following up, as might be expected, the entry in Wikipedia is long and very detailed.