Civil War

Screened at Regal Cinemas 9, Palm Springs, California.

Civil War, despite a few flaws and strange choices here and there, is what I would say is essential viewing for all Americans. Hear me out as to the why.

I say that not because of politics. War is the absence of politics, when all else is lost, when all effort has gone to waste, war is what is left. Director Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Ex Machina, Men) makes the very, VERY wise decision here to take the politics, to take the war's origin out off the table. Because at that point, when everything has turned to bloodshed, it doesn't matter anymore. The point of no return has passed, it's a new world at that point, and that is what he wants to show here, through the eyes of seasoned journalists and photojournalists, as well as the eyes of those just getting started in earning their professional stripes. This is the message here, and the reminder to Americans: War is not like the movies. As fanciful and glory-filled as a battle for the nation's future, regardless of sides, may seem on the big or small screen, or on paper, the last thing one wants to experience is going through what we have never gone through before here on our own soil in over 150 years. The cause may be just, whichever side that is taken, but it must be avoided at all costs.

The film's first half was good, but not great. Some scenes struck a bit odd, especially one involving the killing of three captured soldiers set to a hip-hop song that took the pairing of modern music with grim scenes of carnage to an unnecessary and strange, but luckily NOT entirely uncomfortable place. The intention I think was good, but the choice of song, not as much. I say the intention was good because that approach is taken in other scenes, and it works quite well - more on that later. So that, along with character development that was both lacking, and rushed at the same time, were drawbacks. As was the portrayal of the war itself which was more minimal than I would have thought or liked. Seeing more than puffs of smoke rising across the war torn landscape, cars strung along the highway, and the sounds of gunfire in the background, it almost felt like the approach the recent film 'The Zone of Interest' took in its horror lying within the sound design alone. Overall that's fine, and it does work with Garland's approach to the subject most of the time, but when it didn't, it's felt, and it was a tad distracting.

But then Civil War took a turn. While it became I'd say 50% more grim during the second half, pulling the viewer further into the ground conflict, it was more welcome than off-putting. Meaning the transition eased quite well, with that build-up adding so much to the final act. The last thing I would have expected from this movie was for me to be in tears the last 30 minutes. It all starts with a scene involving lead actor Kirsten Dunst's real-life husband Jesse Plemons, which you can get a taste of in the film's trailer. It's a quick scene, but anyone who knows Plemons, his "unhinged, scary psycho about to go ape shit at any moment" routine here was intense, and the overall intensity from then on is off the charts, both visually, and emotionally. Maybe because I feel very committed and entrenched in national politics, and because of the genuine love for my country and the hope it still to this day provides to the world, do I feel that seeing it attacked in this way, in this manner, genuinely shook me. I had to look away at times. Tears presented themselves. I was quietly choked up. The heroic journalists - getting a better sense of what that life is like for them - especially when presented this way with their own home attacked, I swear as I write this I'm still shaken up an hour or so later. 

That visceral reaction I attribute to how effective the majority of the film ultimately is. Personally, I've been seeing the growing rift in our nation slowly building for a few decades now, so I felt I was prepared for this, especially in knowing this was not going to be some Hollywood bullshit like White House Down and Olympus Has Fallen. This scenario, this possibility, is not a fucking video game. It's serious, and it's real, and such an eventuality would change all our lives, and the world's, dramatically if a scenario like this was to ever play out. That is why, again despite the flaws, I think this is essential viewing, as it's our duty to never let things get this far.

As said earlier, visually the first half is good, before it all comes together and shines, in darkness, by the film's conclusion. In the meantime, the casting fills the gaps. Dunst is HARDENED, which she does so quietly yet perfectly here. The animosity she shows at the start towards her younger "protege" of sorts didn't feel entirely right, and that's one of the areas the script could have used another set of eyes perhaps, but her portrayal is quietly effective, and by the end, her trauma from years of experience is devastating to witness. That younger protege was also very good, portrayed by Cailee Spaeny who I was very impressed by as Elvis' wife in Sofia Coppola's recent Priscilla. Rounding out the cast was Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson and Nick Offerman, quickly effective as the United States president/dictator.

Again I'd say the strength here is its lack of politics in order to effectively understand the brutality of war. We know the USA portrayed in this film is under a dictatorship, but the ruling party is not known or ever discussed, and it's all made more ambiguous by who they are fighting against, which is the Western Forces. What some have seen as an unlikely pairing, with Texas and California leading the resistance, in actuality it makes perfect sense for that stage of the war. Their own secessionist movements may come from wildly different places, but they're bound not by ideology, but against their common enemy ... for now.

It's a haunting film by it's conclusion, and as the final photo of the story develops onscreen to the sound of Suicide's brilliant song 'Dream Baby Dream,' it's bound to stick with you for awhile, and hopefully persuade citizens to become more involved in politics, and their community. It's the only thing that will save us in the long run.