The wonderful Kirsten Dunst plays a jaded photojournalist documenting the end of democracy as we know it in what is sure to be one of the most controversial films of the year.
In Alex Garland's classic book “Civil War,'' the press is both the good guy and a kind of bad guy. It's an uncomfortable, ground-level look at what a unified United States might look like in the near future. Intended as a wake-up call, this long-winded thriller begins slowly and snowballs to the stunning attack on Washington, D.C., as the nation follows them along as a team of dedicated journalists make their way to the Capitol. You will experience what will be elucidated mainly. . This is the most infuriating dystopian vision ever produced by the sci-fi brains that wiped out London in the zombie insurrection depicted in 28 Days Later, and it's not something that can be easily consumed as entertainment. A provocative shock to the system, “Civil War” is designed to be divisive.
Led by veteran battlefield photographer Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst), the close-knit team of journalists are thoroughly professional. They represent a troubling form of detachment and, while essential to the job, are effectively anti-human as they strive not to take sides, and as such serve as an indictment. . News organizations thrive on conflict, which sells newspapers, increases ratings, and even stokes fears about the possibility of a second Civil War. Garland doesn't care how things turned out this time. His script is dubious, with both Texas and California seceding in opposition to a power-hungry three-term president (Nick Offerman), then pooling their resources (calling themselves the “Army of the West”) Aside from the concept, it skips over why the conflict started.
It looks like another installment in the popular post-apocalyptic thriller genre, but don't get me wrong. “Civil War” depicts the apocalypse itself. The complete collapse of this country suggests more than is clearly depicted. Americans are against each other, and the only people allowed to move freely around the firing range are those with “PRESS” stenciled on their bulletproof vests. Garland establishes chaos early on as Lee covers the scene of a mob where civilians who have become refugees in their own country are crying out for water. Suddenly, a woman comes running waving an American flag with a backpack filled with explosives strapped to her chest.
Like the coffee shop explosion in Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men, these vérité explosions keep us on our toes—though it's not until Lee picks up his camera and begins documenting the carnage. Otherwise, the wider world might never have witnessed it. . Seconds earlier, she had taken her young girlfriend Jesse (Priscilla star Kailey Spaeny) to safety, effectively saving this wet-behind-the-ears wannabe's life. Ta. Her goal for Jessie is also to become a war photographer, but she shoots with black and white film. artist Lee's run-and-gun shooter. The ambitious newcomer talks about Lee's next assignment and heads to Washington, D.C., with reporter Joel (Walter Moura) and veteran political journalist Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) to interview the president.
Jesse sees himself in the girl, even though he can no longer see himself. In one scene, after barely surviving a gunfight, the foursome find themselves in a town seemingly unaffected by the war. They walk into a store and Lee tries on a dress while observing herself in her mirror. This film is a mirror, showing America the risks of civil war and the potential costs of division. “Civil War” is a cautionary tale, reusing images audiences have seen on foreign battlefields, such as dissidents hanging from bridges and bodies covered in lime in mass graves. Applies to settings across the United States.
That's surprising, to say the least. Still, Lee has seen worse things in her life (in her early days, while decompressing in the bath, she watched over and over again samples of the outstretched horrors she's recorded throughout her career). (This includes an incident in which a man was set on fire.) Even if she had her empathetic powers, Ms. Lee now seems irreparably desensitized. When she asks Jesse what he would do if Jesse dies, Lee coldly stares back and she says, “What do you think?” Of course she would take that chance.
The audience had never seen Dunst like this. In “Power of the Dog,” she seemed harsh, but here, by covering up her struggles, her essence is missing. (The star looked radiant at the film's SXSW premiere, underscoring the transformation she took for a role where resilience and simple adrenaline-fueled instincts override basic self-care.) An increasingly tense and increasingly grueling road trip thrusts the team deeper into the proverbial heart of darkness. The majority of the film takes place in broad daylight, with no aesthetics audiences would expect from a modern war movie. Modern war movies usually use strategic filters to make everything look grainy.
The “Civil War” may play out in parallel dimensions (a team-up between California and Texas leaves it ambiguous whether blue or red states are leading this uprising), but that doesn't mean we It looks a lot like the America I know. In the chaos, the characters sometimes have trouble distinguishing between rebels and patriots. Like the scene where soldiers try to take down a sniper at the Winter Wonderland outdoor attraction. In that situation, it hardly matters which team he's on. Later, Jesse Plemons appeared wearing a camouflage uniform and heart-shaped sunglasses and pointed a gun at the unarmed journalists. “What kind of American are you?” he demands of each of them. In today's political climate, self-proclaimed patriots are asking similar questions with similar overbearing content.
At this point, the movie leans into full-on horror. Indeed, the final part feels more like Stephen King (The Mist, The Stand) than any previous war movie. In the scene where a small group of journalists accompany Western forces in a major push against DC, Garland Offerman appears to be preparing a speech as president at the beginning, but it's a real-world riot and the commander in chief. By interjecting these words, he sowed doubts about the man's sincerity. Still, no American will want to know what happens next as Jesse and Lee accompany the military as they attempt to shoot up the White House.
The early battles were fierce, but somehow theoretical. This climactic siege is very different from the real-world war we witnessed in Ukraine, but it looks terrifying. At first, Jesse tended to freeze up when he was shot, but now he appears fearless, while Lee suffers from bouts of anxiety. Along with the supposedly media-influenced insurrectionists, they are fueled by a completely distorted sense of duty. Their sole focus is getting the shot, and sometimes the story.
Anyone who saw Garland's previous film, the A24-backed weirdo film Men, knows that the director isn't afraid to push things to the most nauseating extremes. “Civil War'' is no exception. Garland trades in provocative imagery, not only in depicting war crimes, but also in depicting how such visuals are perceived. Meanwhile, ambiguity surrounding the origins of the conflict means there is no way to defuse the situation we are monitoring. Though invisible to the eye, “Civil War” has been criticized for exploiting election-year tensions, but is actually intended to show the futility of “sides.” Garland was the last person to suggest a group hug. As the statement goes, his powerful vision shakes us, effectively repeating the question that quelled the Los Angeles riots: Can we all get along?
