What Kind of American Are You?
Review of the movie Civil War
I know people don’t come to my substack for movie reviews, but I saw the film Civil War, which has deep political overtones, and felt it was worthy of writing a quick post about it. I will have spoiler alerts near the bottom.
The movie, directed by Alex Garland, focuses on the story of four journalists as they cover the end of the Second American Civil War. They travel from New York City to Washington, D.C., as the Capitol becomes under siege from rebel forces.
Kirsten Dunst plays a widely celebrated war journalist named Lee Smith, who’s covered some of the most gruesome conflicts worldwide. She’s haunted by images of humanity at its very worst, having recurring visions of seeing innocent civilians and military officers being tortured and murdered.
Cailee Spaeny plays a young wannabe war photographer named Jessie, who admires Lee Smith’s work and manages to find a way to join her on the trip along with fellow journalists Wagner Moura, who plays a journalist named Joel, and Stephen McKinley Henderson, who plays Sammy, a veteran journalist from The New York Times.
The film is beautifully shot, the sound mixing is excellent, and we witness the worst of war through the lens of the journalist who covers it. There are plenty of action scenes for people planning on seeing the movie for battles.
Any political junkie wanting to see the movie to explain how the political divisions in America have accelerated so quickly that America is split into three different countries will be disappointed. California and Texas are in an alliance, Florida and several other southern states are in another alliance, while most of the country still supports the President. You’re supposed to accept that it’s happened and that the president has a third term in office. No explanations are given about the circumstances of why the split occurred, just that it did, and watch the horrors of war, including terrorism, the massacre of civilians, and a general breakdown of law and order. You also see how people cling to normalcy during political and social unrest.
The one really bad thing is that no journalist I have ever met talks the way these characters do. They really shouldn’t have hired a journalist to be a dialogue supervisor.
Critics have said the movie reflects a Trump-like president as a dictator, and a multiracial coalition puts an end to it. That is not true at all.
SPOILER ALERT AHEAD…. I REPEAT, SPOILER ALERT AHEAD