Where & When: AMC The Grove, Los Angeles, CA. April 16, 2024 9:00 PM
We are in an election year which means that some American citizens will be hyped up to actively voice which side of the political spectrum they happen to fall on. At one time, not so long ago, a person's politics used to be held close to the vest. But now, not only have people become more aggressively vocal on their views, they feel some inexplicable need to vilify their party rivals to the frightening point of bloodshed.
"Civil War", the latest feature film from writer/director Alex Garland, is a compelling drama that explores the idea of the United States has once again fallen into a deadly conflict that has Americans fighting against fellow Americans over political disagreements. Full of intrigue, intense thrills and controversial observations, Garland paints a disturbing scenario that feels more probable than at any other time in our country's history.
Our story begins in the middle of this American civil war with the country divided into four sections which includes the odd pairing of an unified alliance between California and Texas called the Western Forces. We are not given much information in regards to how this conflict started beyond that the President (Nick Offerman) would not leave office, giving himself a third term, and his disbanding of the FBI.
Joel (Wagner Moura), a hot shot correspondent from Florida and the far more subdued, acclaimed photo journalist, Lee (Kirsten Dunst), are covering a large crowd pushing to get food aid in Brooklyn. A suicide bomber brings Lee into the path of Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), a young aspiring photographer. Realizing who she is, Jessie tries to connect but a weary Lee shuts it down, wishing her luck and sending the novice on her way.
Lee and Joel plan to head to Washington DC in order to get the final interview by the President before the district falls to the Western Forces. However, Lee, despite her protests against the idea, discovers that Joel has invited Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), a veteran New Times Times reporter, and Jessie to join them on this treacherous road trip.
As they travel across the country, we witness what America has become during this battle. Through the burned out buildings, destroyed cars and decaying corpses, they encounter an armed, motley crew patrolling a gas station, purchasing fuel from them using more valuable Canadian dollars and remaining silent as they watch how they deal with apparent looters, a militia executing captured fellow Americans who were loyalist soldiers for the corrupt President and entering a small town with the residents living life as normal, uninvolved in this violent conflict although there are armed men on building rooftops.
Garland, who began his career as a novelist before turning to script writing ("28 Days Later", "Dredd") and then moving behind the camera with "Ex Machina" (still my favorite of his four feature films), is one of the more innovative filmmakers working in cinema today, using his literary gifts to enhance the less respected genres of action-adventure, horror and sci-fi. With "Civil War", he make an effort to remain objective, staying above the current partisan clash in the US, by keeping the focus of this action-thriller on the human element of the story involving our main characters.
As they proceed through their dangerous journey, these four professional colleges are forced to lean into each other for physical protection and emotional support. All of the performers are excellent but it's Dunst who draws us into this story, playing Lee as a hardened soul, a person who has seen so much death and destruction, that the arrival of Jessie begins to soften her spirit, reminding her of the ambition and doubts she had experienced in her early days as a photojournalist. But this also causes Lee to crack, slowly breaking down the protective wall she had erected which leads her down to the point of inertia.
The scene that is most talked about (and most disturbing) best encapsulates what the film is trying to convey. After Jessie is separated from her team and ends up in a car with a couple of fellow reporters, they are stopped by a menacing figure in red sunglasses armed with an assault rifle, played by an uncredited Jesse Plemons. Joel and Lee arrive to the area, surrounded by piles of bodies being dumped into a makeshift grave, trying to deescalate the situation. As this self-appointed judge questions each of them with "Where are you from?" and "What kind of American are you?", they soon realize that the potential wrong answer could cost them their lives.
This moment is terrifying, reeking of White supremacy and xenophobia, bringing into focus what could happen to our society if we continue to lose our compassion and humanity by only viewing people who disagree with us as a threatening, dangerous enemy. "Civil War" attempts to reveal in this vividly striking and extreme drama a bleak vision of a potential future if we continue down this destructive path of intolerance and a blind allegiance to political party affiliation.
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