Apparently it's both, but I found the second aspect only slightly more convincing than the first. Mariel Hemingway is adequate, Ben Cross is competent, and the aviation sequences are entertaining. 6/10 stars from me.
shareI saw it a couple of times, and I wasn't convinced byh the story. The pilot left Syria for a better life outside Syria's police state, which was also allied with the Soviet Union, but we're never really shown that. We're just shown how he gets involved in an affair with an American spy, and then she leaves him once he delivers the Mig.
It was just okay.
I could have shot a better film.
*EDIT*
And the planes in the film are at least 20 years older than the actual planes involved.
The plane stolen was a Mig-21 "Fishbed", yet the film shows a Mig-17, a Korean War era jet fighter, and not a modern Soviet attack craft.
I feel bad for whoever shot this. People today know their planes a little bit better, and this film, combined with the fact that it shot as a made for TV film, doesn't hold up too well.
It's okay, and watchable, but it totters here and there. It's supposed to be a spy film, but doesn't have the gravitas of one. It's supposed to be a military thriller, but again doesn't have the full weight of one.
It should have been a better movie. And I think ultimately the budget and shooting schedule torpedoed the thing.