As I write this, the time is half past ten in the evening. I have just come back from watching A24’s new film ‘Civil War’. I was not intending to write a review on this film prior to seeing it. Now I’m prepared to spend the rest of the evening writing about it if needs be. That is why you should see this film – because that’s how good it is.
Civil War is A24’s biggest production to date, coming in at a whopping £75 million – not unheard of for the likes of Disney or Universal, but massive for a smaller more artsy studio such as A24. It is written and directed by Alex Garland, most famous for writing the film ‘28 Days Later’. It stars Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny and Stephen McKinley Henderson as a group of journalists in an America on the brink, telling of their suicide pact of an Odyssey from New York to Washington DC, in a mad attempt to get an interview with the President (played by Nick Offerman) before America’s collapse. It features the trials and tribulations of these four journalists going from predicament to predicament – shootout to sniper ambush, execution to evacuation – as they get to DC, photographing every step, body, wreckage, and character along the way. Dunst plays a jaded war photographer, who (alongside her writing partner played by Moura and senior journalist played by Henderson) take a budding war photographer (played by Spaeny) under their wing. It is a relatively short film, clocking in at only an hour and forty-nine minutes, which feels refreshing in comparison to the likes of Oppenheimer.
It is set in a future America, and, in a stroke of genius, that is all we are told about the setting. Because that’s all you need to know about the setting. This is a film that very much hits the zeitgeist – not in the way the Barbie hit the zeitgeist and made an overtly pro-Feminist film, but in the way that provides an outsiders perspective on the current cultural and political divides in the US. It clearly features characters, groups and figures who represent real groups and figures: an armed squad of militants wearing Hawaiian T-Shirts appear to reference the far-right group ‘the Proud Boys’; the far-left group ‘Antifa’ is referenced in name; the crew come along a soldier (played by the superb Jesse Plemons, who you may know as Todd from Breaking Bad) who is the extremity of a republican (highly racist, ‘America for the Americans only’, shooting a man on the spot for being from Hong Kong); (and) they come along a sniper pair with pastel blue, pink and white hair and nails, indicating they are highly liberal (in that they support Pride). Offerman’s President character, on face value, may appear as nothing more than a Trump allegory. But this is by far the case, and is where the brilliance of Civil War lies.
Garland truly takes you into the world of a war photographer; not just in the stunning stills taken of each event the crew of journalists find themselves in, but also in not having any real viewpoint – no moral stand on what is on screen. Civil War is a film that indirectly criticises the current socio-political climate in America. It shows the melting pot of current America. It makes no claims about what is ‘bad’ or ‘good’ but shows the extremities of divide culturally. Now, you may say that the stakes are dialled to eleven – but what is brilliantly terrifying is that it does not feel like so. This film feels truly indicative of today’s America. It does not make any criticism against any particular group. It is anchored in the journey of four journalists, and how they respond to the situation they are in – and it feels believably (and existentially quite scarily) real. The year this takes place in is not stated, and there is no futuristic technology to indicate if it is either far flung into the future or quite near. Each situation seems believable. From the blockades and checkpoints of armed officials to the refugee camps, all the settings appear grounded in a disturbing sense of realism. We aren’t told much about how America has developed to get to this point, other than the fact that the FBI has been disbanded, the President is now in his third term, and two separate states, the WF (Western Forces of California and Texas) and the Florida Alliance, have emerged and now move on the capitol. A line from Henderson’s character (known as ‘Sammy’) perfectly sets the scene near the beginning as all the journalists are in a hotel prior to their setting off – ‘it’s like the fall of Berlin [in DC]… soon [the two new states] will turn on each other’. And the scene of America is then set – this also setting up the fate of Offerman’s character.
It’s an incredibly harrowing film, both from the implications about America and from the on-the-ground experiences presented to us. I certainly jumped a few times as individuals were shot dead in a second – especially with the execution of the man from Hong Kong by Plemons’ character. Dunst superbly portrays her character of ‘Lee’, showing the sorrows, turmoil and resolve of an experienced war photographer, capturing moments of strength and weakness in moments of peace and insanity. Spaeny as well brilliantly shows the progression of her character as a young photographer named ‘Jessie’, and we see her grow in confidence on the front line over the course of the film. Civil War features a lot of violent scenes, with journalistic photos of bloody corpses and gunfire, alongside the dumping of several bodies by armed men who hold our crew of journalists at gunpoint. Not all members of this journalistic crew make it out alive, and when one is killed off the impact is properly felt for the remaining characters and for the audience. Now, I’m a brit who has never been to America and has no connection to the country, but even I will admit that I was caught by the imagery of DC falling: of the explosions of the Lincoln memorial; of the shooting of the President’s car; (and especially) in the final scene when the journalists following WF troops as they storm into the White House.
We haven’t even made it through April, yet Civil War may already have taken the title of the best film of the year. If you’ve ever questioned the future role of cinema in our lives this masterpiece of a moving picture – about pictures no less – will reaffirm the continued presence of cinema in our lives. I saw the film on a much smaller movie screen in a much smaller movie room, but even that room was nearly fully booked. Some outlets are calling Civil War the next ‘Apocalypse Now’, which is clear to see. I would posit that Civil War acts as a spiritual successor to Carol Anne Duffy’s ‘War Photographer’ – dealing with many of the similar issues a war photographer faces, set against an America that perfectly criticises our times today. I cannot recommend enough that you take the time to go see Civil War whilst it remains in theatres.