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During an interview with Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune in 1973, French filmmaker François Truffaut said he “didn’t think [he’d] seen an anti-war film … every film about war ends up being pro-war.”

Truffaut explained how cinema uses violence as adrenaline and gives the audience heroes to root for, turning the act of war into pure entertainment. Truffaut posits the question of whether all displays of warfare glorify violence, no matter the destruction it brings.

A24’s latest film “Civil War” presents a dystopian version of America torn apart by brutal warfare and on the brink of total collapse. Writer-director Alex Garland‘s depiction of unrest and division is extremely intriguing and harrowing, creating heart-pounding tension throughout the film. While the film does a good job of showing how war amplifies the worst in a character no matter what side they are on, Garland is unable to fully make “Civil War” an anti-war film, presenting its events as interesting and exciting for the characters.

While “Civil War” does take place in the contemporary United States, Garland gives very few details about why the country is divided and what makes the war directly American. The film’s themes are meant to apply to any country, he said.

In an interview with Christopher Kuo, Garland said “If one is talking about polarization, extremism, the Fourth Estate, all of those things, would it be wise to make a Republican-Democrat conversation that immediately shuts down the other half?”

The film follows a group of journalists who drive from New York City to Washington, D.C. hoping to interview the fascistic, three-term president (Nick Offerman). The conflict doesn’t affect renowned photojournalist Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst) because she has covered several battles overseas. Joel (Wagner Moura) is a writer who seems almost enamored by the horrific action he is experiencing, eager to cover it.

Veteran reporter Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and young, up-and-coming war photographer Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), who idolizes Lee, join the pair. Throughout their trip, the four encounter several people who are caught in the midst of the urban warfare, with each interaction seeming to increasingly wear on them.

By telling the story through the eyes of journalists determined to capture a once-in-a-lifetime story, Garland presents an interesting moral question among the characters. In the film, Lee explains how she wants people to use her photos and think, “Don’t do this.” Now that war has come to America, she is horrified yet continues with her passion. No matter how much danger she may put herself in or how much pain those around her experience, Lee always looks to capture the best possible photo.

The people fighting around Lee also take pride in being photographed even as they are doing horrific things. The journalists can seemingly find a good story in anything, no matter how abhorrent it may be.

In the interview with Kuo, Garland said he wanted the journalists in the film to feel old-fashioned and not part of our real-world media ecosystem. Jessie uses a 35-millimeter camera, which is from a time when the media’s function was better understood and embraced than the way it may be now, he said. Lee and Joel are Reuters reporters, not attempting to present their work as propaganda. By making Lee and Joel objective reporters, Garland said he did not want to paint a clear picture of who was truly on the side of good or bad in the war.

One of the critical scenes in the film challenges this idea. On the drive to D.C, the four lead journalists meet up with Tony (Nelson Lee) and Bohai (Evan Lai), two reporters from Hong Kong also heading to the nation’s capital. A group of white-nationalist militiamen, led by a man played by Jesse Plemons, stops the six journalists.

Plemons holds the group at gunpoint and asks them, “What kind of American are you?” In this scene, Plemons represents another way people can use the division of the civil war to their horrific advantage. He seems to take pride in interrogating each person and seeing them question their own identity.

The look of sheer terror on the character’s faces is the first time any character other than Jessie seems impacted by the war. While the journalists have previously used death associated with the war to their advantage as members of the media, we see how they begin to reconsider their actions when they see them up close. After a narrow escape from Plemons’ character, the group continues toward D.C.

The final act of the film is where the audience can see the most pro-war film elements. As Western Forces from Texas and California move to the White House to try to kill the president, Garland shoots an intense action sequence, showing off just how cool war can look in a movie. Even among all the explosions and gunfire, Joel, Jessie and Lee document every moment.

The battle moves through D.C., passing several monuments and showing the many murders of U.S. government members. Garland’s directing in this sequence is similar to that of a first-person shooter video game, as the camera moves from street to street, giving intimacy to each shot. In a film that is largely episodic at times, this sequence feels like a necessary, exciting and intense finale.

Throughout film history, movies centered around war have often been used to tell deep, emotional stories about how being so close to conflict alters one’s psychology. However, there is an excitement about depicting war on screen that many filmmakers cannot move away from.

“Civil War” presents a group of characters who start to lose their sense of comfort and excitement around warfare as the tragedies of the conflict become more personal. We see Lee start to experience PTSD in real time, and Joel has a mental breakdown questioning the whole endeavor of covering the war. Even as they start to dissect the morality of reporting on such horrific violence, there is still excitement about being a part of U.S. history.

Truffaut believed that simply showing war on-screen was a glorification of the practice, no matter how tragic it may be. Garland’s depiction of a divided America is unsettling, yet there is a fascination in his filmmaking that makes “Civil War” thrilling.

Published on April 17, 2024 at 10:55 pm