In gut-wrenching detail, directors Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza recreate a real-life skirmish the latter survived in Iraq.
Murray Close/A24
They won’t be showing this one at recruitment centers.
Warfare(out April 11) is a remarkable cinematic achievement operating at a profoundly compelling level.
Will Poulter in ‘Warfare’.Credit:Murray Close/A24
The story is so simple that it is practically abstract.
A group of Navy SEALs are maneuvering in Iraq in 2006.
Men with guns start to congregate.
‘Warfare’.Murray Close/A24
Any minute now, things are going to go south.
It’s agonizing to watch because you know bloodshed is right around the corner.
Yet when it finally comes, it still takes you by surprise.
Kit Connor in ‘Warfare’.Murray Close/A24
Before the screening, I pinged a friend who had already seen the film.
“Uh, are there a lot of guys writhing in agony, holding in their entrails?”
“Ugh, okay, I’ll close my eyes.”
“That won’t stop the horrific screams.”
And this is the meat, so to speak, ofWarfare.
(One wonders how much warm salt water he gargled with between takes.)
Anyone who isn’t a bona fide sociopath will find this depiction (and several others!)
of physical and psychological torture to be deeply disturbing.
One might even think, “Maybe we should have seenMinecraftinstead?”
Warfareis co-written and co-directed byAlex Garland, who brought us last year’sCivil War.
His partner is Ray Mendoza, a former Navy SEAL who worked as a consultant on theKirsten Dunst-led picture.
The incident depicted in the movie is one that Mendoza lived through.
What you see on the actors' faces is what you get.
(Others in the cast includeWill Poulter,Michael Gandolfini, andTaylor John Smith.)
In that regard, and others,Warfareis more of an art installation than a typical movie.
out of my mind.
In that regard, I suppose, this is a noble endeavor.
But then again, is it really?
What is to be gained by rubbing our faces in brutality like this?
Isn’t there enough trouble in the world?
I watchedWarfareso I could report on it for you.
I don’t see why anyone would volunteer for such a thing.
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A mid-credits coda takes images of the real survivors from this incident and juxtaposes them with the actors.
But including this as a happy ending is, to me, a big misstep.
