Civil War

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This is gonna be another one of those films in which I can recognize it as a solid movie for the right audience, but I'm not altogether sure that I am that audience. I've never been a fan of the "political thriller" genre, and it's often because I have a hard time wrapping my head around politics and all of the complications that lie within. The other side of it is that I tend to find them incredibly dry, and just take them as not being "for me". However, I can say with all honesty that 'Civil War' is an interesting spin on the subject matter.

One can view the film's overall execution in a few different ways, reading into some sort of deeper political meanings. It can be seen as a cautionary tale about what to expect in our future if America ends up on the wrong path. But a lot of people also seem to see it as a heavy-handed exercise in shock value, considering a lot of the brutal imagery depicted within the film. But if I'm honest, my takeaway had very little to do with anything political at all, and the true thrill of the movie is in following our leads; all battlefield reporters who end up on the front lines of a slew of danger in order to deliver hard-hitting true stories to the nation.

The idea here is that America is in the midst of its second Civil War between a US government run on a dictatorship, and various regional factions who are fighting back. It all opens with the President (Nick Offerman), now in a third term, who paints an instant portrait of what America has turned into. Enter our lead, a famous war photographer named Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst) who we see doing her job to a disturbing degree, but we can still sympathize with her when she rescues an aspiring photojournalist named Jessie Cullen (Cailee Spaeny) from certain death.

Lee, along with her friend and associate, Joel (Wagner Moura) plan to go to Washington to try to get one last interview with the president in before the city is taken. They are joined by Lee's mentor, Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and, unbeknownst to Lee, Jessie, who wants to follow in Lee's footsteps and become a pro. The thing is, in order to do that, Jessie will have to make herself come face to face with all sorts of torment, death, destruction and people who would just as soon shoot you as look at you. And it's all for the best photos.

Throughout their journey to Washington, the foursome find themselves caught in the middle of a lot of the aforementioned danger, but as Lee looks after Jessie and tries to keep her out of danger, she simultaneously hints that the danger is where the action is in photojournalism, and Jessie gets better and better at the whole thing as the film unfolds. My takeaway from the film is more about the imminent danger that photographers put themselves through for a paycheck, and it helps us get a bit of insight into their brutal personalities.

We've all seen a video or know of a story in which a reporter asks the victim of a disaster how they feel, and we've all had that same reaction of wanting to knock the reporter out for being so insensitive. This is not a movie that will change anyone's mind on that perspective, but it will give deeper insight into what it takes to be one of these people. You learn that in order to do this it takes a cold heart, but also quite a bit of bravery, and a lot of it is to spread the word to the masses about how terrible things have gotten in a situation.

The film also shows us that these photojournalists do help where they can. But it still doesn't do a hell of a lot to make me like them. I had a hard time knowing how to feel at the end of it all, because without spoiling anything, there's a bit of a surprise ending. It doesn't really paint these people as heroes or villains, which is something I usually like, but the depth of these characters didn't offer much, despite a few solid performances that I can't really deny. In the end, I take it to be a bit of a thinker, and something to talk about, but I also don't know what else to say about it. I really think everyone's takeaway will be different.

3/5

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