Russo Brothers Iraq War-Drama ‘Mosul’ Gets First Trailer at Netflix

Netflix has released the first trailer for Russo Brothers AGBO Produced Iraq Drama ‘Mosul.’ Directed by Matthew Michael, the film will be released on 26th November on Netflix.

Earlier, Netflix acquired the rights for the film from 101 Studios which was set to release the movie this year, but theatrical plans did not pan out.

The film follows a group of men who fought to take it all back when ISIS took their homes. Based on true events, this is the story of the Nineveh SWAT team, a renegade police unit who waged a guerrilla operation against ISIS in a desperate struggle to save their home city of Mosul.

The Matthew Michael Carnahan-directed drama is among the first films generated by AGBO, the monied production company launched by Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo. AGBO financed the film and produced it with Condé Nast Entertainment.

The film stars Waleed Elgadi, Hayat Kamille, Thaer Al-Shayei, Suhail Dabbach, Adam Bessa, Is'haq Elias, Ben Affan, and Mohimen Mahbuba.

Carnahan wrote the script based on a Luke Mogelson article in the New Yorker about an elite police unit made up almost entirely of native sons of Mosul and their desperate fight, block-by-block, to reclaim their city from ISIS. All of the men bear physical and emotional scars from having lost loved ones to the terror group — one carries video of his older brother’s beheading by ISIS — so they have no shortage of motivation for their thankless heroic job. Mosul was shot in secret this past spring on location in the Middle East by Oscar-winning cinematographer Mauro Fiore (Avatar), and the film features standout performances by Suhail Dabbach (The Hurt Locker) as the unit’s leader and Adam Bessa as a young recruit. The rest of the cast was drawn from the Middle East, North Africa, and the Iraqi diaspora.

The film was shot in the local Arab dialect spoken in Iraq. The Russos and Carnahan decided they wanted a theatrical release for the film. It would be late to enter the crowded year-end awards fray, so they will release in 2020. The film first premiered during Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2019 and Venice Film Festival on 4 September 2019.

AGBO’s Russo Brothers and Mike Larocca produced with Condé Nast’s Jeremy Steckler and Dawn Ostroff. The executive producers are AGBO’s Todd Makurath, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely along with Mohamed Al-Daradji, Patrick Newall, Wang Zhongjun, and Wang Zhonglei.