Warning: Major spoilers ahead for Civil War.A24’s new action blockbuster Civil war Has a somewhat ambiguous central message. The Alex Garland (ex machina, 28 days later) film explores A fictional future scenario in which the United States has been divided into several factions fighting against a totalitarian government Led by a fascist president. While the specific cause of Civil war Conflict is intentionally obscured by Garland, who also wrote the screenplay for the film, The End of Civil war Arrives with a sense of victory for its guerrilla journalist protagonists. Civil war Impressive box office performance has already made it one of the highest-grossing movies of 2024.
Civil war Cast is led by Kirsten Dunst (The power of the dog), Wagner Moura (Narcos), and Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla). The film also features brief performances by Nick Offerman as a rogue and unstoppable US president and Jesse Plemons as an opportunistic and corrupt US soldier. which is arguably missing from Garland’s Civil war is a clear thesis of how the United States realistically came to this extreme point of internal conflict. The film is not concerned with the plausible details and political considerations that exist in the modern United States.. instead, Civil war Skims over the basic details to focus on the front-and-center realities of war in general, regardless of any particular motivations.
Civil War’s sniper shootout explains the central point of the movie
Civil war does not get into much political philosophy
The point of the scene, and the movie at large, is that the conflict over Civil war It’s about who’s shooting at you, not necessarily what side you’re fighting for.
There are some powerful and intense scenes in it Civil war Which indicate the main concept of the film, but none of them is more spot on than the scene between two snipers. The characters of Moura, Dunst, Spaeny and Stephen McKinley Henderson are trying to drive through a rural road on their way to Washington DC when they realize that someone with a sniper rifle is shooting at them. They are able to get out of their vehicle and rush for deck, where they meet two other militant people, one with a sniper rifle and the other one spotting him. naturally, Spaeni’s naively curious Jesse character asks them who they’re shooting at and discovers that they have no idea who the other sniper is.
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The point of the scene, and the movie at large, is that the conflict over Civil war It’s about who’s shooting at you, not necessarily what side you’re fighting for. Typically, wars are fought under separate flags and are fueled by nationalist ideals, however Civil war Does not get into much political philosophy to explain its conflict, why Creates more of a survivalist free-for-all mentality in some of the war-torn areas. While the bigger picture revolves around the western forces and the Florida Alliance who rebels against the federal government and the unchecked US.
The president’s death scene explains the political meaning of civil war
The Western Forces and Florida Alliance aim to end fascist rule in the US
Joel, like the rest of the journalists, is only invested in documenting the moments that can be sold and sensationalized by the press.
most of Civil war It is told through the eyes of the journalists, who are conditioned not to be biased about the war and only capture the tragic realities of it. As documentarians, their job is to stay out of the conflict as much as possible so that they can capture and record real moments of the war that would otherwise go unnoticed. Although this is the main idea of ​​their profession, It becomes clearer throughout the film that the journalists are more on the side of the Western forces and the Florida alliance.Mainly because they are offered access and protection in the warzone areas of the parties.
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On the other hand, the American soldiers under the command of Offerman’s president were ordered to kill journalists on sight, which basically goes without saying that the journalists are quietly rooting against the rise of fascism in the United States. When Offerman’s President was killed at the end of Civil warMora’s character asks for a quote moments before the fascist ruler is shot to death. The President asks, “don’t let them kill me“And Maura’s Joel says,”This will do.” Joel, like the rest of the journalists, is only invested in documenting the moments that can be sold and sensationalized by the press, although if he were asked to choose, he would probably be part of the resistance.
Jesse Photographing War Explains Civil War’s View of Journalism
Jessie’s innocence is completely ruined by her calling
Jessie learns over Civil war That in order to do her job well, she must be emotional and basically have no opinion On the events that are happening around you. She exercises this by photographing one of the soldiers dying as well as shooting Dunst’s Lee character after she was shot and killed at the end of Civil war. Jesus’ innocence was completely destroyed at that moment. Her tragic maturation process is solved when she takes the final shot of Joel and a few of the Western forces soldiers standing over the dead president in what would theoretically be the most important photo in American history. Jessie would then become a celebrity photographer like Lee for playing a major role in shaping history through her work.
Civil War’s politics and real meaning are easily misunderstood
Civil War Wesley chose not to get too real with political divisions in the US
Civil war was more of a character study and a concept film than a traditional war movie.
Not all viewers of Civil War caught what Garland was going for and misunderstood the overall point of the movie. While many people expect a classic war film like Saving Private Ryan Or Black Hawk down With a variety of action-packed scenes and moments of heroism, Civil war was more of a character study and a concept film than a traditional war movie. Of course, there have been other successful war movies with an overarching theme or message, such as Stanley Kubrick’s. Full metal jacket and Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse nowHowever Civil war was less interested in glorifying war and violence And instead stayed focused on Lee, Joel, Sammy and Jesse’s stories.
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moreover, Civil war Klug chose not to get into a realistic picture of a modern civil war in the United States that would quickly become political and thus heated. When the trailer for Civil war was first released, not only was built to be an epic war movie but it also confused viewers by California and Texas, two of the biggest and most politically opposite states in the country, on the same side. By choosing not to pit California and Texas against each other or get too deep into the President’s political agenda outside of his unconstitutional and fascist abuse of power, Civil war Avoids dividing audiences or making viewers uncomfortable.
The ambiguous political stance of Civil War is the key to Alex Garland’s movie
Throwing real-world politics into the film would have defeated its purpose
As with any good movie, Civil war Premise establishes a unified foundation and a clear enemy that the protagonists can work towards and fight against. Tossing real-world politics into the film would have defeated it The purpose of Civil war Being a blockbuster film as opposed to a documentary Or some other type of more journalistic content.
Offerman’s President is simply named President and is not meant to represent any one particular person. Instead, Offerman represents the idea of ​​the cowardly dictator who holds on to his power and depicts the dangers of a world leader gone rogue. Civil war It’s not necessarily realistic enough to be cautionary, but it still drives home important messages about the significance and value of democracy and freedom.