WARNING SHOT (CIVIL WAR)
CIVIL WAR
Suicide bombers detonating devices and devastating a New York street.
Dead bodies hanging from underpasses.
These are some of the images that burn into your brain during Alex Garland's 'Civil War'.
But are they really that far fetched given the polarisation of US politics right now?
'Civil War' tells the story of journalists covering a conflict that has erupted between an alliance of troops from California and Texas and a US Army whose Commander In Chief is Nick Offerman's unnamed three term President.
Covering the conflict are Kirsten Dundst's celebrated photojournalist Lee Smith and Wagner Moura's Reuters reporter Joel who we first see in Brooklyn observing disturbances between civilians and troops.
As the civilians start to scuffle with the soldiers, Lee spots Callie Spaeny's wet behind the ears photojournalist Jessie Cullen being struck during the melee.
Pulling Jessie out of the scrum, Lee gives her her high visibility media vest when suddenly a suicide bomber clutching a flag rushes at the troops and detonates a bomb.
As survivors struggle to get to their feet on a street strewn with the bodies of the dead and injured, Lee immediately gets to work grabbing images.
Returning to their hotel, various reporters and photographers gather in the bar, filing copy, sending photos to their newsdesks, trading gossip and planning their next assignment.
Lee and Joel are planning to go to Washington amid mounting speculation that the Western forces of Texas and California are closing in on the capital.
It's a treacherous journey but Joel is hopeful he will be able to grab a rare interview with the President before the Western offensive.
Stephen McKinley-Henderson's veteran hack Sammy, a mentor to Lee who works for "what's left of the New York Times," is surprised they are willing to take the risk of approaching a President whose soldiers have a tendency to shoot first.
Against Joel's wishes, Sammy coaxes Lee into agreeing to take him as far as Charlottesville.
However Joel thinks Sammy's advanced years and lack of mobility could pose a risk to them and their safety.
As Lee heads to bed, she runs into Jessie who thanks her for helping her during the Brooklyn disturbances and gushes that she is a huge admirer of her work.
The following morning Lee is annoyed to discover Jessie is joining her, Joel and Sammy in their van for their trek down south.
Lee believes Jessie's inexperience will put them at risk in the war zone but Joel counters that he was reluctant to take Sammy along because of his age and mobility.
Besides, he argues, all journalists and photographers have to start somewhere and it would be good for them to help a young person acquire experience.
Lee reluctantly goes along with the plan but it isn't long before they witness horrific sights on the journey through Pennsylvania and Virginia and are exposed to gun battles between rival forces.
But can they get to Washington DC without losing their lives?
This is the fourth feature film that Garland, a London-born novelist turned director has made.
Best known for writing 'The Beach' which Danny Boyle made into a film and working with him on '28 Days Later' and 'Sunshine,' Garland delivers a searing and visceral glimpse into the kind of political dysfunction that could ultimately cripple America.
With Democrats and Republicans, liberal and conservative media outlets increasingly polarised in another election year and political discourse becoming more aggressive and abusive from the Clinton Presidency right through to MAGA, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the United States could become a Divided States of America.
Violence has already erupted on the streets in recent years with the mowing down of anti racism protesters in Charlottesville, the confrontations during the Trump Presidency with Black Lives Matters protests and most shockingly, the storming of Congress by MAGA supporters seeking to prevent the ratification of Joe Biden's 2020 Election victory.
Warning shots have been fired in real life about a nation divided and yet we are going to witness another Presidential contest where civility, tolerance and respect will again go out the window and violence is a real possibility.
With all this in the mix, Garland cleverly avoids getting drawn in 'Civil War' into the finger pointing culture of US politics right now.
Instead of defining who's right or who's wrong, he allows the audience to decipher what's happened to the US.
Passing references are made to events that show how democratic and human rights norms have been dispensed with.
We are told in passing the President is on his third term and he hasn't been interviewed by media in months because journalists are likely to be shot at.
As they start to bond, Jessie mentions how Lee came to fame for her photographs of "the Antifa massacre" - although it is no clear who carried it out or what exactly happened.
The fusion of Texas and California as insurgent states from the South and West is also intriguing as both states right now seem to be very different culturally.
However there is also a very important message at the heart of Garland's film and that is even the most powerful nations can fall apart when their politics become fashioned around hatred, populism and intolerance of the other side.
The movie starkly demonstrates how a nation divided can become a law unto itself.
All bets are off, with Lee, Joel, Sammy and Jessie witnessing disturbing atrocities on the road to Washington DC.
Their road trip is nightmarish in much the same way as Captain Benjamin Willard's boat trip through South Vietnam and Cambodia in Francis Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now'.
Although this isn't so much 'Apocalypse Now' as "Apocalypse Tomorrow".
'Civil War' also serves as a bit of a love letter to war reporters and photographers.
In many ways, its depiction of journalists and photographers putting their lives on the line is reminiscent of Oliver Stone's powerful war reporting tale 'Salvador' as well as Roland Joffe's 'The Killing Fields,' Roger Spottiswoode's 'Under Fire' and Michael Winterbottom's 'Welcome To Sarajevo'.
Garland's father was a political cartoonist and you can tell the writer director grew up in the company of journalists.
Like all great war reporting movies, the film gets the trench humour of reporters and photographers covering conflict but also their humanity.
We are left in no doubt about the psychological impact of the violence they witness as they go about their business.
With a gift of a screenplay by Garland, the cast devour it with zeal.
Dundst is terrific as Lee, never striking a false note as a committed photojournalist who, despite her best efforts, becomes more protective of Jessie.
Fresh from her superb performance in 'Priscilla,' Spaeny turns in another strong showing as a naive photographer learning on the job in the most extreme of circumstances.
Moura grabs his moment to shine in his biggest screen role to date.
McKinley-Henderson brings real gravitas to his part as a New York Times veteran.
Offerman is fantastic as an oily President who has subverted democratic norms.
There is also an outstanding cameo by Dundst's real life husband Jesse Plemons as a terrifying, desensitised soldier.
The mark of a great film is its ability to conjure up images that linger long in the memory while telling a gripping story.
'Civil War' has those moments in spades - from the refugee camp in an abandoned stadium to men being tortured in a car wash, Jesse Plemons' novelty glasses to a sniper operating in what was a Christmas wonderland.
Garland is aided by some superbly raw cinematography by Rob Hardy, brilliant editing by Jake Roberts and a climatic battle that almost eclipses the tension and noise of the epic gun battle on the streets of Los Angeles in Michael Mann's 'Heat'.
De La Soul's hip hop classic 'Say No Go' is stunningly deployed in one sequence reminiscent of 'Full Metal Jacket' where the quartet witness a gun battle between rival forces in an abandoned building occupied by soldiers loyal to the President.
'Civil War' is astoundingly good.
It's also a sobering peek into how the USA could easily fall apart.
The question is do Americans care enough to heed its warning and heal their divisions?
The next few years and not just November's elections will tell.
('Civil War' was released in UK and Irish cinemas on April 12, 2024)
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