It is no coincidence that filmmaker Alex Garland, known for cerebral sci-fi classics such as “Ex Machina” and “Annihilation,” conceived his latest film, “Civil War,” in the beginning of 2020.
The cheekily provocative film is as straightforward as it sounds, depicting an increasingly violent and polarized America on the brink of total collapse. The film’s harsh wartime reality is something we seemingly barrel closer toward every day — or at least circumvent — as Election Day rears its ugly head once again promising déjà vu-like results.
In short, Garland did not have to bend an idea to fulfill his science fiction predilections, as the world has evidently bent itself to Garland’s interests.
“Civil War” is a film that firmly has its finger planted on the political scales, but this is merely a backdrop. It is a vehicle for exploring the hazy, warped reality that the last four, eight or 25 years have engendered.
The film’s provocations, while not as inflammatory as one may expect, are more universal and less inherently rooted in the current moment than many of the film’s critics would point out.
If you are aiming for a film to answer all of the uncomfortable questions circling around our politically murky times, it is most likely less symptomatic of the triumphs and failures of Garland’s film and more so a byproduct of our culture’s over-reliance on art as moral validation.
That being said, art has done a lot of the heavy lifting in recent times when our politicians have fallen short.
It is no surprise “Civil War” was met with a rather divisive response. At the film’s world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival on March 14, which I was lucky enough to attend, I could feel the tension in the air when the credits rolled. With a runtime of one hour and 49 minutes, the movie’s lack of political resolution will surely only add fuel to the fire.
Yet, while many have clubbed Garland’s apoliticism as the diametrically incorrect approach to this material, what I admire about the film is how he, instead, opts to move laterally.
Following a truly white-knuckling sequence, the film’s soundtrack is populated by the unexpected use of De La Soul’s “Say No Go,” a perfectly sardonic (and knowing) track that, in tandem with images of all-too-realistic riots and hellfire, shockingly sums up our seemingly fraught American backyard better than any grand narrative or sociopolitical finger-wagging.
Aren’t we all sick of “unprecedented times?” What happened to “precedented times?”
Garland has never been a subtle filmmaker; he is, in fact, far from it. Garland is arguably the poster-boy of the “dumb person’s smart filmmaker” camp (I would argue he’s confidently taken the baton from Christopher Nolan). Yet, I can’t help but feel that this has all been by design.
What “Civil War” lacks in political declaration, it more than makes up for in compelling characterization, with standout performances from Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeney — the true hearts of the story. Sofia Coppola fans will be very pleased to see this duo onscreen.
The movie truly comes alive when living in the emotional peaks and valleys of its characters — a quartet of plucky journalists, complete with a memorable Wagner Moura and reliable Stephen McKinley Henderson. Dunst and Spaeney juxtapose embitterment and altruism, as well as the uncomfortable but necessary methods we utilize to compartmentalize tragedy, providing the film’s sneakily effective pathos. Subtle? No. Impactful? Yes.
Many recent films have aimed to tackle the devastating effects of compartmentalization amidst our increasingly desensitized times. Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” brilliantly plants the viewer in the headspace of Nazi perpetrators, while Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” offers a historically holistic vivisection of a community plagued by tragedy.
While “Civil War” never reaches the heights of those masterworks, the fact that millions of people will see this film, which aims to traverse similarly discomforting thematic terrain under the auspicious guise of a zeitgeist blockbuster, is utterly commendable.
It is not an intellectual statement but a visceral blunt force instrument, and it should be experienced and discoursed about as such.
This film is easily one of the best and most fascinating of 2024 thus far.
“Civil War” opens nationwide in theaters on April 12.
