'Civil War': Traveling through horror in an unlikely? civil war

Road cinema maintains its old prestige. It is assumed that these travelers, forced or voluntary, are people with problems, who are fleeing from something concrete or from intimate helplessness, or who are trying something as lyrical and adolescent as searching for themselves, that miraculous, risky, dangerous and dangerous things are going to happen to them. adventures, encounters and disagreements, that they may feel lost or cornered, that if they manage to reach the end, assuming there is an end, they will feel that their existence has changed. And there are also very beautiful books about that transgressive physical and existential path, like the moving

On the Road

, written by Jack Kerouac. And, of course, there are also films of this genre, in which the viewer could have been saved his trip, since nothing happens in them that deserves his attention. But, to begin with, the fact that the protagonism is played by the continuous movement has an initial charm.

Civil War

belongs to that genre. A group of journalists and photographers travel through the United States trying to reach Washington with the intention of interviewing and photographing the cornered president of the country. They could be his last words and images, since the rebels are going to kill him. And what has happened? The unthinkable, the most terrifying, the civil war. The path they will travel, what such seasoned professionals will see and feel, returning from all the possible turns, is exclusively related to pure and simple horror. All wars are savage, but civil wars add another component of infamy and heartbreak. Of course, everything starts from the perverse, or visionary, or lucid imagination of the screenwriter and director Alex Garland, but it could occur to more than one viewer that, confirming the real state of things in the United States, the ancient assault on the Capitol of the mobs that blessed Donald Trump, the absolute danger that this grotesque, sinister, manipulative, threatening and corrupt individual represents, shook him with real tremors at the possibility that what we consider science fiction could become real in the event that he did not win the elections. upcoming elections. Here, they do not give us any explanation about this fratricidal war, but suspicion is inevitable.

And the permanent tension, the fear, the survival instinct, the stupefaction at the absolute cruelty of that group of people who have witnessed and captured with their cameras so many horrors live in numerous places around the world are well narrated. There is a very famous photographer whose ancestral art is already beyond good and evil, but she is aware that her time may be running out and she wants an ending worthy of her. She has a very young disciple who can take her place in capturing her horror. They are accompanied by an elderly journalist, as intelligent and grounded as he is endearing, who aspires to a great exclusive before he dies. And a young and determined guy who protects the group, determined to reach his goal even if it may be deadly.

All the interpreters are credible, including those who appear for a short time. The icy, inexpressive and predatory character played by Jesse Plemons, one of the most disturbing villains in movies and series in recent years, is terrifying. Here he asks before charging with dark indifference to his victims: “What kind of American are you?” There is also sardonic humor in the midst of so much tragedy, like the one he displays in the last sequence in the Oval Office. And Kirsten Dunst is very good in the role of that permanent witness of horror who has not lost the ability to be moved even though her extremely hard work consists of filming it.

Civil War

Director:

Alex Garland.

Starring:

Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Nick Offerman. 

Genre:

war drama. USA, United Kingdom, 2024.

Duration:

109 minutes.

Premiere: April 19.

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