YNOT at the Movies

It's no fiction that today's American political climate is as polarized as it has ever been. What if the country continues down this path beyond this year's election? The writer-director Alex Garland's unnerving drama "Civil War" (USA/UK 2024 | 119 min.) provides some hints. It vividly paints a horrific picture of what the divided America looks like when it slips into a civil war. It's an unsettling warning about that direr perspective to many people, like some of those in the film, who refuse to acknowledge that possibility.

When the film opens, the third term President (Nick Offerman) of the United States is practicing his speech claiming victory over the rebel—Western Force (WF), a California-Texas military force fighting against the government troops. However, on the war front, the WF is winning and taking over the country. Even though cities like New York City are not yet as ruined as today's Gaza, it's not too far off either.

The seasoned war photojournalist Lee (Kirsten Dunst) is right at the center of the war zone, taking pictures, even though it's unclear where her photos are going to be published and whether people still rely on newspapers or online sources to get news feed about the war.

Sensing the President's days in the White House are numbered, Lee wants to get an interview with the President. She begins her 875 miles journey driving to Washington D.C. with her colleagues Joel (Wagner Moura), a reporter for Reuters, Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), a reporter for the New York Times, and a young photographer Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) who admires Lee as a role model.

The road trip is a horrific life and death ordeal. The big word PRESS printed on their vest and the van doesn't prevent them from being shot at and killed. It becomes disorienting even trying to figure out who is fighting whom and for what. Certainly, there are plenty of astonishing images for Lee and Jessie to capture on their cameras during the trip.

The writer-director Alex Garland unflinchingly shows us the unthinkable scenario, which actually is entirely possible. He intentionally left out the why and when the war in the film takes place, which makes it even more terrifying for the viewers to connect the dots with the current political reality. But what's missing in the film is any ideology or political statement, unless you consider anti-war to be one. As some of the characters in the film stated, they kill simply for the reason of not being killed.

Despite the fact that the film doesn't offer any insightful point toward this jarring possibility in the future of America, it does provoke one question, asked by one of the fighters (Jesse Plemons) waving an automatic rifle, "What kind of American are you?" The answer to this question seems to be at the center of the reason why the civil war broke out.

Kirsten Dunst gives an outstanding performance as Lee, the brave photojournalist, who makes us rethink about the purpose and meaning of press. When she is in a war zone, Lee appears to put her journalist duty on top of all other matters, including her own life. But do the photos she takes really matter in the fog of war? To whom? If a journalist is indeed apolitical and impartial, why would any side of a conflict allow them to be embedded within their side and even protect their safety? So it must be impossible to be neutral if you are a journalist reporting a war. Just open a newspaper or turn on the TV to see the ongoing war reporting.

If nothing else, this provocative film shouts loud and clear: You are warned, America!

"Civil War" opens on Friday, April 12, 2024.