Civil War
Hey everyone and welcome, today we will be talking about the film Civil War. Fun Fact, This film was released on April 12th, 2024 and you know what else was on April 12th? The start of the American Civil War 163 years prior. This film stars Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, and Cailee Spaeny and was directed by Alex Garland. So without further ado let’s get right into it.
Civil War follows Photographer Lee and reporter Joel who are on a mission to interview the president of the United States during a Civil War between the Western forces of California and Texas and the rest of the U.S. Lees mentor Sammy and wannabe photographer Jessie tags along for a ride they won’t forget.
Civil War is a dystopian war film. It has similar vibes to The Last of Us, City of god, or The Handmaid’s Tale.
From the trailer, I honestly wasn’t sold but there was a lot of hype around the movie so I went to see it and my expectations were completely exceeded. From the trailer, I thought it would be more political and something building off the division of America right now but the film is not that. The beginning of the film really sets the tone for the movie and in that scene and throughout the movie I found myself so invested that I didn’t realize that my mouth was open.
Kirsten Dunst leads this movie and she was so good as Lee who clearly has seen a lot and Kirsten did a great job of showing her emotions on her face. As the movie goes on we see how this being a war photographer is rough for her and after Sammy’s death we see how that is her final straw and we see signs of PTSD start to surface. I’m sad in the end she risked her life to save Jessie who was almost killed.
Sammy was a character who I just really enjoyed in this movie played by Steven Mckinley Henderson, he was Lee’s mentor and was the person who kind of kept the peace between everyone. He’s also the reason they’re still alive considering he saved the group from those corrupt soldiers which was one of the most stressful scenes in the film. I was sad that he died and even sadder that Lee had to clean his blood from their car and just keep pushing but hey I guess that’s war for ya.
Throughout the film we see Lee being a mentor to Jessie and it seems like she was going to be her replacement. I don’t know if this was intentional but Jessie talks about how she is from Missouri and Lee is from Colorado early in the film. Missouri is called the Show Me state and some researchers believe it’s in reference to miners who were taken to Colorado from Missouri to replace striking workers. Since the miners were unfamiliar with the Colorado mines they had to be constantly shown what to do. This could just be a coincidence but throughout the movie, we see how Lee is constantly telling Jessie how to not only take better photos, but that not every photo is going to be good, and how to take photos while staying safe. Even though her actions lead to Lee getting killed I think she helped Lee remember that there are some people out there who still find happiness even though the country has gone to shit.
I liked how Joel was so set on getting a quote from the president before he died. Throughout the film, he helped keep Jessie alive by guiding her and he seemed to be the most relaxed in the group considering what they were going through.
Jesse Plemeons had such a small role in this film but it had me shook and showed how some people in war implement their own version of justice when no one is watching. He was asking questions but you really didn’t know what the right answers and I truly think he would’ve killed them all if Sammy didn’t come save them.
It was great that they didn’t distinguish who was who in the war or really tell you the views of the characters. These media professionals were shown as just a neutral party who wanted to document what was going on at this moment in time. Usually in films with different sides, the outfits help distinguish the different sides but not in this film. we do learn small hints about the president, like he’s abusing power and doesn’t want to talk to journalists and is on his 3rd term but they don’t dive too deep into the reasons why he did that. When we meet other people who are involved in this war we do not really know what side they are on and a perfect example was Joel asking the soldiers what their mission and the soldier said to survive, there’s a guy shooting at us and my goal is to kill him so I can survive. I feel like throughout the movie we are reminded of the fact that which side people are on is a part of the story but not the main story he wants to tell. Garland gives you some information and from there you kind of just make your own assumptions. I feel like this is important to note because in life if you ever view situations like these where there are disagreements you should figure out which side you align with more and not look for someone to tell you, form your own ideas.
The film itself was very intense and had me on the edge of my seat. Some parts felt like a video game with these small missions to get to the final boss, the president, but the mission isn’t to kill anyone it’s just to survive and document. Following non-combatants really showed how the war was affecting everyone and how the simple task of driving puts everyone on edge.
The way that the US looked, so vacant, kind of reminded me of a zombie apocalypse because that’s literally how they always show the world, vacant and half destroyed. Even the town that was under the guise they were normal wasn’t really normal and had an armed militia keeping tabs on the safety of its citizens.
I’m glad that they showed some of the photos that these photographers took. When I was looking at them I was like wow these are the photos you would see in a history book years later to commemorate this event. It also showed the importance because sometimes people need visual representation to see just how bad it really was and that it should not happen again.
I think my favorite part of this film was how they decided to edit the film. There were so many scenes where it would be fairly quiet and then they would cut to the action and it would be so loud and then in the middle of that we cut to a quiet scene of a photo someone took. Doing this made me jump a couple of times but I did enjoy them deciding to edit the film this way which made me as a viewer feel like I was on the front lines. I think it was a great way to distinguish that sometimes it’s chill and sometimes it is really not and your heart will be racing and you’re trying to capture a photo without getting killed by the gunfire that’s coming in all different directions and just because you aren’t the target, doesn’t mean its less scary. There were also a lot of over-the-head shots as if an eagle was filming which was a cool way to shoot to really get a lay of the land and helped ensure that the viewer grasped how dystopian the world looked. I just think the film did a good job with all aspects of editing to further immerse the viewer and have them feeling like they were in it too.
Civil War was a great film that made the time fly because I was so invested. The cast was great and the story is one that might have you thinking would we really be in shambles if a Civil War was going on in America?
