The Only Battle Being Fought in ‘Civil War’ is Clarity

Alex Garland’s Civil War unfolds in a dystopian America, besieged by rebel factions whose motivations remain unexplained throughout its 109-minute runtime. The film centers on a group of photojournalists as they race to reach the White House before its inevitable collapse to interview and photograph the president. A lot is happening in this film yet with no context to grasp, we’re taken down an incredibly violent path that ends in a narrative cul-de-sac. Garland perhaps feels he’s offering food for thought yet the dish is inedible, whether it be its ingredients or the recipe in which it was cooked. The result is a feast of graphically traumatic visuals of a dire scenario due to an unspecified crisis, that offers stellar imagery to serve as a haunting legacy for a befalling America. 

Lee (Kirsten Dunst; The Power of the Dog), a renowned photojournalist known for her war photography, alongside colleague Joel (Wagner Moura; Shining Girls) is on the ground documenting the civil war engulfing America. They hear rumors of a possible July fourth assault on Washington DC by the Western Forces, so they, together with seasoned journalist Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson; Dune Part One) and aspiring photojournalist Jessie (Cailee Spaeny; Priscilla) make their way across the states. Their mission: to reach the White House and interview and photograph the president (Nick Offerman; The Last of Us) before he’s captured, or worse. 

Civil War is technically sound, for the most part. I doubt many would argue Garland’s directorial prowess.  His discerning eye for impactful visuals plays a crucial role in the film’s potency. That coupled with the sound creates an adrenaline-induced physical response while watching. Garland punctuates America’s issue with gun violence with the stark realism of gunfire sounds. The film is very loud, you hear every bullet and every explosion. Towards the end of the film, the pervasive gun violence becomes overwhelming which leaves an impression that lingers uncomfortably, unlike the fleeting shock typically associated with action movies. 

Now that that’s out of the way — Civil War goes deep in violence but shallow in message. And yes, people are rushing to social media to share what they interpret the film to be about yet the meanings they’re adorning the movie with simply aren’t there. 

“The film pays homage to photojournalists.” – random tweeter. 

We follow the film through photojournalists’ perspective, sort of, yet I wouldn’t go as far to say the film pays homage to them. A photojournalist acts as a visual record keeper. Imagine the gaps in our historical understanding if no one had been there to capture these moments to cement the truth. We owe so much to photojournalists who yield their lives to documenting reality. Here, in Garland’s Civil War, Lee is numb to the violence around her. At a gas station, she notices one of the attendants has taken Jessie around back to show her something. Lee follows to find Jessie staring up at two people hanging — still alive. Jessie is in shock. Lee grabs her camera and snaps a photo. The journey continues. 

The next time they encounter violence, Jessie is at the forefront, camera in hand snapping photos of people’s last moments. Slowly, over the course of the film, Jessie inherits Lee’s flair for compartmentalizing what’s happening around her. The ability to detach is a necessary armor for a journalist and it takes time to build that callus around the heart. But to imply that a journalist is unbiased, that they have no stake in the right or wrong of what’s happening isn’t accurate. In the film, it doesn’t give much insight to what Lee, or any of the crew is feeling. Perhaps it’s to highlight the relentless pace of their work, but depicting them as “if it bleeds it leads” chasers of sensationalism does them injustice. 

For example, during their road trip to the capitol, they drive through an idyllic town unscathed by the chaos around them. The shops are still open. The streets are clean and people are pleasant. As a photojournalist, this would’ve also been a story. People who chose to mind their business, ignoring the war around them. But none of the journalists took photos of it. 

Civil War yells a bloody message but what is it saying? 

Marketed as a war film, one would expect to see people engaging in combat and casualties. Here, it’s a civil war so while the military is present, everyday citizens are also being killed. Still, it’s expected in a film depicting war. What wasn’t expected was the level of graphic violence shown being done to Black and other POC people. There doesn’t seem to be an equitable distribution of horror and instead zooms in on a harrowing flashback scene of a Black person being incinerated or an image of Black man bleeding out and ironically, or not, that being the only in-focus shot of our budding photographer in the scene that follows. For a film to have that level of trauma and bloodshed, you’d think it would have a justifiable point to the chaos. Yet at the end of the film, you’re scratching your head wondering what it was all for. 

Creative choices like this give pause. Garland gives no answers for anything in Civil War yet chooses who would endure the most brutality. That isn’t an unbiased choice. Most viewers have ignored certain imagery or contended that it’s a part of some bigger picture that isn’t there. What I can agree with is that your experience in America will determine how you interpret this film. Garland is offering an outsider’s perspective of a situation in which he would be countries away from the fallout. White audiences may marvel at this fictionalized “what if” clinging to how horrific this would be while not fearing it because of their current status in society. Meanwhile, Black people and other people of color may find themselves, as I do, feeling that this film is an irresponsible element being added to an already poisonous well. 

Civil War isn’t a bad movie but its lack of message doesn’t fully justify its existence. Although it suggests neutrality, Garland’s choices determine that is a lie. Garland created this world but wants us to draw our own conclusions. The journalists in the film haven’t chosen a side but everyone around them has which fuels their fight. In the end, we’re left with ringing ears, stained images of death, and lingering questions. 

Civil War is now playing in theaters. 

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars