When you get the chance to see a special screening of Alex Garlands and Ray Mendoza’s new film Warfare at a famous IMAX cinema in London, you take it! I did, at least. Few have probably missed that it’s on the way. It has already premiered in the US and England, but for Sweden it will be a few more weeks.
What makes the film special compared to other war films is that it is based on the collected memories of the team Ray Mendoza was part of, who lived through this in 2006. One of the soldiers, Elliott, was so badly injured that he doesn’t remember the day. Ray wanted to give him the next best thing, a different way to experience the day, when he and the team noticed that their retelling wasn’t helping enough.
When the movie started after a short intro from Kit Connor, Alex Garland (director), and Cosmo Jarvis, I had a feeling that I already knew most of it from what I had seen in trailers and read about in interviews. And to be honest, there weren’t a lot of things in the story that surprised me, but it didn’t need to.
I was totally occupied with the clever filming and its level of detail. I found myself counting the sweat drops falling from Elliott’s (Cosmo Jarvis) face at one point and I was fascinated by the dust Sam (Joseph Quinn) was collecting with his finger. I thought more about what happened to the bottle of pee Frank (Taylor John Smith) produced than I’m okay with. And does “snus” really exist outside Sweden? I had no idea.
The most surprising moments were when guns went off, the explosions, and the sound of the airplanes. Not that I didn’t expect it, but it made me and many other audience members jump out of our seats on multiple occasions
However, I was truly surprised by the warmth and humor the film shared in a truly gut-wrenching story. And I expected more blood (I’m not sad to be wrong though…).
I was also moved by how the team worked together all the way through the movie, how they could trust each other completely and how their knew when it was time to step down and hand over leadership. And I guess that goes outside the movie and down to the real men who were there.
Something else that I was impressed by was the stellar acting. I know they did long takes where they didn’t know on who the cameras were pointed, so they had to stay in the role all the time. I saw several details that fit so well in the “I don’t have anything to say or do right now but I just stay in character here.”
I want to give an extra shout out to Joseph Quinn, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Cosmo Jarvis, Taylor John Smith, Will Poulter, and Kit Conner for amazing performances. Without spoiling, Joseph Quinn and Cosmo Jarvis are doing some insane acting here. way beyond my expectations. And the tears in newbie Tommy’s (Kit’s) eye almost finished me off. That together with D’Pharaoh (playing Ray himself) tending to the wounded friends is almost more than I can take.
The guys swearing for themselves when they understood that the situation had gone south gave me an incredibly strong feeling of desperation but the contrast would be the scene where Lt McDonald (Michael Gandolfini) gives morphine to a wounded soldier, which is unintentionally funny and a relief in the darkness. There is also an absurd situation with a foot that’s not funny at all, but it still gives me a morbid smile and a thought of Murphy and his damn law. I think we, the audience, needed those seconds to stay focused.
Back to the acting again, Charles Melton (who plays Jake) shines too, when he enters the scattered, wounded group. He brings hope for a short while at least.
As the cast said in more than one interview, this movie differs from other war movies in the way that it doesn’t glorify war. This is directly from the real memories with out any add ons to make it more likeable, or less intense or to make any war heroes.
And that is why I think Warfare is really important to see.