Civil War (2024)

Set in the near future, a civil war has erupted in the United States between an authoritarian federal government and regional factions (notably California and Texas). The film focuses on a group of journalists heading to Washington D.C. to photograph and interview the third term President (Nick Offerman) before the city falls. Written and directed by Alex Garland (EX MACHINA), this unsettling view of a nation torn apart by hate and divisiveness is as much about journalism as it is about a country fractured by ideologies. I would have loved to comment how far fetched the plot is but it seems frighteningly prescient. Garland takes no sides and offers no solutions and instead lets his narrative focus on the dehumanization of mankind in a war where even the "good guys" are the enemy. One can't help but think of the precipice where the U.S. is tottering toward or even the Israel/Gaza situation. The acting is of a high order especially Kirsten Dunst as the war photographer who finds her objectivity wavering, Cailee Spaeny as an aspiring photo journalist and Stephen McKinley Henderson in an understated performance as an aging journalist who's seen it all. Perhaps not the great film it could have been (we're never given any background on the impetus of the war) but good enough and yes, a film that needed to be made. With Wagner Moura, Jesse Plemons and Nelson Lee.