WARFARE 🤩

WARFARE is a really well-done film and one I have a hard time giving a blank recommendation of. It’s very intense and bloody. And for everyone who has served in combat, especially in Irag or Afghanistan, it’s possible this film could bring back some traumatic memories. WARFARE is co-written and co-directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza, the latter of whom experienced the events of the film in 2006 during the Battle of Ramadi in Iraq. The 95-minute story is based on the memories of those who were there. 

Like CIVIL WAR, and even MEN before it, Garland excels at pushing the limits of the audience’s media literacy. I know a lot of people didn’t enjoy CIVIL WAR because they felt it didn’t take a strong enough stance against fascism. I, however, thought it did, but it just didn’t lay it out on a fancy platter. Perhaps that is the fault of the film to not engage the audience enough that they can see the message it’s trying to send. WARFARE doesn’t tell you that war is bad. Or that it’s tragic. Or that our armed forces act in unity together to get their mission accomplished, often to the detriment of the civilians around them. We see it play out in nearly real time. 

We see the anxiety and confusion in the eyes of the innocent civilians who have had their homes destroyed by the fighting forces around them, including the US troops who are using their spaces. We hear the words the Navy Seals use with their translators; men who should be equals but are treated as much less. We experience fear alongside these Navy Seals when they’re faced with the possibility of their own mortality. Even for a film with real actors, it all feels very real and very raw. The violence is never glamorized. The harsh reality of how these soldiers act toward one another, toward the Iraqi civilians or toward their translators isn’t tidied up and wrapped with a bow. There are a lot of ugly moments on the screen even before things start blowing up. 

Perhaps it says the type of person I am, but I can’t imagine walking away from this film and thinking, “Yee haw, Go America” or “Yeah boys, get em’.” The men depicted in this story were incredibly brave, and performed heroic acts to save one another, but at no point did I feel they were heroes – at least not in the way Hollywood usually delivers them to us in a war film. This isn’t SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. There’s no older lead walking in with an inspirational story. If you’re prepared for that, go see this movie. But if you’d rather have a schmaltzy tale of valor and empathy, this isn’t the film for you. I hope that as filmgoers, we can challenge ourselves while still getting escapism. 

WARFARE is currently playing exclusively in cinemas just down the hall from A MINECRAFT MOVIE.