In 2014, three years after the Civil war began in Syria, the charity Save The Children launched a campaign called ‘If London Were Syria’ which is a 93-second advertisement that unleashed war in the minds of those of us who lived in the UK; the war grew vivid in our minds. It was about a little girl who was living in Britain, whose typical happy life got shattered by the controversial hypothetical British civil war. The purpose of the advertisement was simple in its ambition: what if it happened here?
In a sharp way, this is the question posed by Alex Garland in his film Civil War. To people in the West, war appears, in so many instances, as just a mere idea. When imagining a British or a Syrian civil war it is common to simply shrug it off as violence that happens to other people somewhere else. At a time when world wide aggressions tear the fabric of multiple countries apart, Garland portrays the United States as a war model, violent history that uses famously peaceful visuals of New York, Washington DC serves as metaphors for chaotic dystopian worlds.
He is very decisive. When the movie starts, America is battling its second civil war and almost every single state is a battleground. The war visuals plastered across the stadiums, with constant hto flash on domestic bombers, a decent blouse, with soldiers w Desperately and vividly unabashedly shambolic the country displayed broke state. It’s all unusually, amalgamated, distressingly, or rather painfully real.
More than the politicians making decisions, or even the front line troops, our eyes are of reporters and soldiers, and that is a little odd. Proxies to this document start to include Joel (Wagner Moura), Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), a cub photojournalist, reaching out for stories to be addressed, I am Lee (Kirsten Dunst), a hardened photographer, a aged and seasoned professional. However, while the modestly ambiguous tone of Riley’s earlier work, Ex Machina and Annhiliation might be absent, the cleavage of the film appears tenuously less organically conceived in Men with Rory Kinnear wanting to give birth to himself multiple times.
Gradually, we discover bits and pieces of how the events unfolded: that Texas and California, under the flag of two stars, have banded together as Western Forces, while the Florida Alliance has been defeated. These aspects largely come up, sort of as and when, in the foreground, and scooters garland is intentionally general; the causes of the war are hardly as important as the war itself. By combining Texas and California, two states from traditionally opposite ends of the political spectrum, Garlands appears to be seeking to transcend the usual left-right political divide and instead focus on the larger picture. Those looking for a straightforward response to the political situation in 2024 would see this as an irritating act of confrontation, a typical moderate dad in a movie.
It cannot be said to be completely devoid of politics, however. In the gravest of roles, the author’s notion is centered on a highly combative President which Nick Offerman portrays, and even he dabbles in Ahmanedijan speech whose pearls include, “Some are already calling it the greatest victory in the history of mankind, ” at least once during his speeches. For whatever the case, he has probably declared himself winner of the idu43 election and engaged citizens of his country under military airstrikes, amongst other action. While lacking direct representations of today’s most controversial world figures and unlike the rest, the film which is set in America’s election year and democracies are up for grabs raises the question, what violence is liable to occur when there is vacuum due to absence of democracy Garwand politics politics.
Garland’s interest in how journalists manage to be dispassionate shapes his persistent curiosity how reporters maintain their humanity amidst brutality and injustice is also all-embracing. Lee, for instance, seems to have lost hers, Jessie is only beginning to discover hers as the two of them meet at a cross roads where their lives. Like Nightcrawler or Peeping Tom it is concerned about the capacity to view yet sometimes destructively and at the time of passion, illuminating. For example, what does it mean to be an eyewitness of an event that changes the course of human history? What does it take out of one’s soul to willfully live behind a lens of a camera? Garland seem to us, if only delicately allows, to accuse all of us and himself quite evenly.
To sum it all up, this is a beautiful film that makes you appreciate the brutality of the war with awe. There is not a single wise war in history because wars cannot be won. Rob Hardy’s cinematography manages to blend brutal realism with hair-raising aesthetics. From the standpoint of the film’s narrative: The Lincoln Memorial steps are a prime place to engage in symbolic struggle and violence. The Lincoln Memorial symbolizes struggle and violence more than stepping and fighting, but the essence of the legends remains untold. It is emotionally engaging at all times and repeatedly tries to evoke a sense of humor in the viewer. Reminiscent of Braindead and Battle Royale, the political satire is both witty and sufficiently subversive in its complexity. The entire political perception of the film is skillfully entwined with horror and violence to produce an intricate and chaotic piece of work.
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