There's a reason why the United States military and intelligence services provide assistance and material support to flicks like Zero Dark Thirty, four of the Transformers movies, and Stripes. It makes service to your nation look fun, heroic and pretty sanitary.
Last year's Civil War, from director Alex Garland, is unsettling not because of its inventiveness or the amount of gore that the director put into the film. It disturbs viewers by transporting the terrible shit that happens in conflict zones around the world, each and every day, into the streets of America. An unassuming young women suicide bombs paramilitary police and citizens in need of water. Bodies are mutilated and hung on display. Mass killing are perpetrated in the name of lunatic logic, the murderers fill a mass grave like they're filling in a ditch. Garland took all of the things that happen on the news and put them in American front yard. It's a raw film that is hard to watch at times.
With his latest project, Warfare, Garland gives us a similar glimpe into the ugliness that we subject one another to. It's a film acking in jingoistic bullshit. There's no epic musical score. You're not beaten over the head with sweeping what does it all mean voiceovers that movies like Blackhawk Down and We Were Soldiers are known for.
Warfare is, for those who know, much like warfare itself. It can be in turns tedious, brutal, horrific, chaotic and terrifying. There are no grand gestures in this movie. It's a story about some of the best trained military operators in the world undertaking what can often a banal task: overwatch of another element who are doing their own thing. The script was co-written by Garland and veteran SEAL Ray Mendoza, based on the memories of the SEALs who went through the firefight featured in the film.
This re-creation of the assault on the SEAL position is filmed, in real-time. As the movie illustrates, a lot of horrific shit can happen in under two hours when guns, hate and opportunity are available in spades. The injured scream. The injuries and fatalities are horrific. Soldiers shake from adrenaline and shut down from shock. Mistakes get made during panicked moments. Relativity shows up to curb stomp the SEALs, making moments last far too long.
In in the midst of it all, two Iraqi families are hostages in their own homes as the SEALs use their flats to conduct their overwatch. They're treated as well as can be expected by someone there to destroy their home to suit their needs can be expected. The soldiers shield the bodies of the families from explosions with their own bodies — good stuff. But when it comes down to it, these human shields are an element from a foreign army that has taken what little these families own and committed it to smoke and ruin. It's not a film I would call exciting. Intense would be more apt. Many people will find hard to watch. Combat veterans burdened with Post Traumatic Stress may want to steer clear. I wish I had. But once I was into the film, I felt committed. Garland's work has that effect on me. You know nothing will end well, but you need to watch, nonetheless.
If you have someone in your life that wants to join the military, for whatever reason, glorifies in guns, or has any delusions of what service can cost, sit them down in front of Warfare. Watch it with them. See how they're doing when they come out the other side. The movie has been released digitally and is available to rent or purchase from a number of different services.
Image via A24 Films
