Civil War: It's the near future, the USA is wracked by a Civil War. we're never given a full explanation of how it's come about, we get hints from throw away remarks, a president in his third term, FBI abolished, tryannical rule, who might this president be? As the film opens we see a president about to face the camera, he rehearses his boasts about how he has achieved the greatest military victory ever recorded in history and demands the immediate surrender of the rebel forces. In fact he is more like Hitler in Downfall, he controls a shrinking area around Washington DC as the Western Forces (California and Texas) and the Florida Alliance close in. This is a Civil War though and fighting continues in other parts of the country often between irregular units. The narrative unfolds around a group of journalists who travel from New York to Charlottesville where the Western Forces are assembling for their final push, and on to DC. Normally a distance of 226 miles, detours take it close to 1,000 miles. Veteran journalists Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and her colleague Joel intend to travel to Washington, D.C., their dream to interview and photograph the president before the city falls. An old reporter friend Sammy asks to come as far as Charlottesville, as does a young photographer, Jesse (Cailee Spaeny).
They traverse a devastated country, fighting still going on in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The neophyte Jesse gradually becoming a better war photographer, Lee is less protective of her, The savagery of the war is plain to see with a mass grave of victims slaughtered by the presidents partisans but even the rebel irregulars are prepared to shoot surrendering enemy combatants. The action is convincing, especially when the photographers are in the thick of the combat, stills appearing mid action provide even greater verisimilitude. The US dollar isn't worth much outside of cities, it takes Canadian dollars to buy gas, looters are tortured, a suicide bomber waving the stars and stripes blows up police and thirsty civilians as they gather around a water truck in New York, the UN run refugee camps; remember this is in the US. This film is reminiscent of Under Fire, which also featured journalists in the last days of a civil war. Great performances from Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny. A cautionary dystopian tale perhaps rather than a prediction. Directed and written by Alex Garland. 8.5/10.
In cinemas.
