Proving that Hollywood doesn’t have a monopoly on rousing war-themed actioners, Spanish director Adolfo Martínez Pérez recently released Zona hostil (Rescue Under Fire) in his native country. The former storyboard artist, who’s worked on such Hollywood flicks as The Jungle Book, Terminator Salvation, and Oblivion, has clearly borrowed some of that movie magic for his first outing as a feature film director. Based on true events, Zona hostil follows the crew of a medical helicopter tasked with helping a joint US and UN force in Afghanistan. When the copter crashes and the crew have to stay overnight in the Afghani desert awaiting their rescue by the Spanish army, their mission becomes even more difficult once they’re instructed to salvage the helicopter. And that’s before they get word that their site will be attacked by Taliban forces before the night is over.
In the vein of action flicks like Black Hawk Down, American Sniper and Lone Survivor, Martínez Pérez’s Zona hostil looks heavy on the adrenaline-pumping sequences. Awash in a khaki-dusted backdrop, there’s no shortage of gunfire and explosions to satiate your need for the kind of images we’ve come to expect from authentic portrayals of the wars in the Middle East. Led by Ariadna Gil (as the narrator, Captain Varela) and Roberto Álamo (who donned that iconic tiger costume as Zeca in Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In), the film is sure to tug at your heartstrings as you root for these heroic soldiers. Whether it does anything more than romanticize the bravery of these soldiers, indicting in turn the very complex conflicts that lead to such harrowing events in the first place, remains to be seen. In the meantime, check out the full trailer below.