Rent Civil War on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Alex Garland
Directed by: Alex Garland
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Nick Offerman
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
A journey across a dystopian future America follows a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House.
Verdict
This is a movie that seems political due to the setting and current climate, but it doesn't choose a side. It doesn't even offer us a choice between sides. We follow impartial journalists as they capture history. This is so striking because it doesn't happen in a distant time or place. This is in America. Just five years ago an insurrection would have been unfathomable, but here we watch from the inside, unaware of the factions and their viewpoints. We can only watch the destruction as it unfurls. War begets tragedy, and this feels closer to a possibility than any war movie I've seen.
Watch It.
Review
Garland is a writer/director I follow. I'm a fan of his works like Sunshine, 28 Days Later, and Devs. This movie might just be my new favorite of his.
This opens with who we assume is the President, rehearsing a speech about victory but interspersed are images of attacks and violence. Presumably that's the Civil War in this movie. During his speech he references various resistance factions. That sets the stage for war journalists.
Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and Joel (Wagner Moura) travel East across the country to get an elusive interview with the third term president. They're journalists capturing the moment but not part of the military or resistance fighters. Lee runs into Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), a hopeful war photographer that contrasts with Lee who grows weary of the war and the life of following it around. The start of their seven-hundred mile trek across a war torn country is where we finally see this world, this alternate history. Between cities, highways are empty but when they approach cities abandoned cars litter the highway. Their stop at a fuel station lets us know U.S. currency isn't valuable, and that everyone is on edge and struggling. Lee criticizes Jessie, but it's tough love. To photograph war you will see heinous things. You can't hesitate to get the photo. To make amends Lee stops the car and directs Jessie to capture images of a downed helicopter.
 |
| Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny play Jessie, Lee |
The imagery is great; not just the destruction but the framing of shots and the way this focuses your attention on details like the curling smoke in the distance by omitting ambient sounds. Contrasting those images are shots of nature and even a town that's not waging war. There's still peace in some pockets of the world. The way this structures the movie emphasizes the story beats. We get a light moment where they forget about the war for a moment, and then in the next scene they're being detained by someone who's allegiances are unclear. He begins to interrogate them, and they don't know the 'right' answers to his questions.
War movies are always disconnected, they're in the past and oceans away. If this was in another country or time, it's just a story. Setting it in present day America makes it real. It's something I start to imagine, and that's scary. This certainly seems political on the surface, but it's not about politics. This focuses on the tragedy of war. The action is frenetic chaos as reporters infiltrate the front lines. They're on the edge of disaster throughout the movie. We know there are multiple factions, but we don't know where anyone stands. We're not following one side, and that prevents us from choosing a side. We're just observers like the reporters.
 |
| Cailee Spaeny plays Jessie |
An insurrection in America was unimaginable five years ago, but it's not fiction anymore. This movie bridges that gap, imbuing this with a greater impact. The more we see, the more we realize that there are no rules, no accords, and no agreements. When both sides are shooting, it doesn't matter in the moment what side you're on. It's about staying alive. The members of the press desire to be near the action, but there's an inherent danger that grows the closer they are to the story.
With the concept of the press as the fourth branch of the government, what happens to their photos and stories when the government is broken? We know they upload their stories and photos, but who sees them? What do they capture? What does it change? The entire movie feels like Lee passing a torch to Jessie. A photographer is always looking for that one moment, that one photo. Lee found hers long before this movie began, and Jessie is looking for hers. Her search just happens to occur during one of the low points of this fictionalized America.
No comments :
Post a Comment