'Mosul' is a Hollywood war movie about Iraq – with a twist

LONDON, United Kingdom — Hollywood has churned out plenty of war movies about conflict in the Middle East in the past two decades – but none quite like "Mosul."

The movie places Arab actors in the roles of heroes and uses the Arabic language to tell the story of a local SWAT team battling  the Islamic State (ISIS) three years ago in Iraq's third-largest city.

Though it features Hollywood-style filmmaking and production values, Americans are mentioned only in passing, and there are no major non-Arab characters.

Adam Bessa, a French-Tunisian actor who stars as a police officer who joins the hardened SWAT team, says his mother was astonished to see him in such a Hollywood production.

"It's historical, you know, to have the opportunity to do it and to tell this story in the Arab language, Iraqi dialect, Arab actors," Bessa said. "My mother is like, 'I'm going to watch it without subtitles?' I was like 'Yeah, you're going to watch it without subtitles. You can enjoy yourself, you know!'"

"Avengers" directors Joe and Anthony Russo produced the film, saying it matched their goals of amplifying voices of those who traditionally aren't heard in Hollywood and in US mainstream media.

"To be able to sort of make a film in the Arabic language about the conflict in the Middle East in a way where the locals are the heroes, the locals are the protagonists – that's one of the most gratifying things we've ever been able to do as filmmakers," Anthony Russo said.

His brother Joe Russo said he'd been thinking about the power of media to bridge cultural chasms.

"It was one of the more profound moments in our careers when one of the actors on the movie told us that this was the first time that he was able to play – as an Arabic actor – a hero in a film and not a terrorist or a villain. And that's a disturbing notion," he said.

Matthew Michael Carnahan wrote and directed the film after reading a New Yorker article about the Nineveh SWAT team. He cast only Arab actors – including many with Iraqi roots like Suhail Dabbach, who plays the wizened leader of the team.

Carnahan says he hopes other Hollywood filmmakers apply their techniques to stories highlighting other cultures and using languages other than English.

"I would love for it to start a trend because there is such spectacular talent in that part of the world – acting and production. There is just a wealth of ability waiting to be tapped and hoping to be tapped," he said.

"Mosul" hit Netflix worldwide on November 26.