Tunisian Actor Adam Bessa Talks About His Role as Kurdish Nineveh SWAT Member Kawa in Mosul.
Tunisian actor Adam Bessa (Extraction, The Blessed, Amours solitaires) takes on the role of Kawa, a Kurdish soldier that is recruited by Jasem (Suhail Dabbach) to join the Nineveh SWAT team after his under is murdered by DAESH (ISIS in English). Through his struggles, Kawa evolves from a naïve, young soldier to a man who understands the value of life and death along with the evolution of who he needs to be during a time of war.
I spoke with Bessa while he was in London about what it was like in getting the role of Kawa, not only having to learn the Iraqi Arabic dialect, but to also learn the Iraqi Arabic dialect with a Kurdish accent and how it means to depict Arabs in a positive light for the first time since 1962’s Lawrence of Arabia.
Mosul was filmed in Morocco, in North Africa not too far from Bessa’s home country of Tunisia and how exciting it was to return home after working on a Russo Brothers film.
MOSUL (L to R) Suhail Dabbach as “Major Jaseem” and Adam Bessa as “Kawa.” Cr. JOSE HARO/NETFLIX © 2020.
Official Synopsis:
When ISIS took their homes, families and city, one group of men fought to take it all back. After inexperienced Iraqi cop Kawa (Adam Bessa) is rescued from a harrowing firefight by the elite Nineveh SWAT team, he’s quickly inducted into the rogue squadron, a band of ten brothers-in-arms led by the wise Major Jasem (Suhail Dabbach). Under constant threat of attack, the unit embarks on a dangerous guerrilla operation, determined to wipe out an enemy base and restore order to the lawless territory. An extraordinary true story of heroism in the face of overwhelming odds, Mosul is written and directed by Matthew Michael Carnahan and produced by Anthony and Joe Russo.
Mosul begins streaming on Netflix on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26, 2020. You can follow Adam Bessa on Instagram @adam_bessa and on Facebook @adam.bessa.
