According to a Serbian colleague who loves studying history, and who also hated briefly living through history: Your description is pretty much any modern civil war. There’s no neutrality, there’s no front line. You must pick a side or escape, now.
His family got out quickly. He was Serbian and married to a Bosnian. There was no future for them.
This was quoted recently on the BBS (maybe by you, @Mindysan33), but I can’t find it right now. It feels pertinent to a movie set in modern America called “Civil War” that doesn’t address how a Civil War might’ve come to be.
“Every film is political. Most political of all are those that pretend not to be: ‘entertainment’ movies. They are the most political films there are because they dismiss the possibility of change. In every frame they tell you everything’s fine the way it is. They are a continual advertisement for things as they are.” – Wim Wenders
Certainly made him a target of the Bosnian serb militias seeking to destroy Sarajevo. Few places put a lie to their ideology than that city… Glad he made it out of the wars… it’s fucked up that so many people did not.
But to my larger point, the militias tearing Bosnia apart weren’t apolitical. They very much had a political viewpoint. Context matters…
That’s a good quote. Could be one of the articles I posted about this…
In the interview I posted above, he argued it was political, not the “left-right” way of thinking about politics, but “extremist vs. centrists”… which…
The more I hear about this “incendiary” film, the less I am interested in seeing it… which is saying something, because I had very little interest to begin with.
I don’t care who’s in it, or who’s upset by its existence; the narrative sounds weak and poorly thought out, which violates my personal first rule:
Before you do anything else, tell me a good story.
From all I have heard thus far, including seeing numerous previews & trailers, this film does not sound like it meets that standard.
So I saw Civil War last night in an empty theatre in rural Nevada.
My observations:
complaining about the ambiguity or details around who’s who (relative to modern politics) IS COMPLETELY MISSING THE POINT. It doesn’t matter - what does is the impact that violence has on people.
I’m aghast (as a humble Canadian) that this film received a wide theatrical release in the US. It pushes ALL the buttons but said ambiguity likely leaves many local viewers completely confused as to who best to identify with. It does so very purposefully- it’s not a case of trying to appeal to everyone.
this thing is incredibly tense, technically incredible, and well acted. The timing couldn’t be worse - or better (especially given how happy the MAGA crowd is to usher in a new Civil War / The Rapture). Sadly the film is likely too sophisticated for any positive impact on this group.
There’s a great Reddit that goes into many of these things. Overall- strongly recommend but prepare yourself.
I think that a film released at this moment, from the U.S., when one party is openly and repeatedly advocating for violence against their opponents, and refuses to be frank about how we get to an open civil war IS COMPLETELY MISSING THE POINT. Some of us are quite aware of the impact violence has on people.
I give zero fucks about whether they agree with me or not. They are cheering on a totalitarian future for the U.S. I’m not seeking common ground with people who want to ignore elections and exterminate people they don’t agree with.
You said the movie is unlikely to reach any MAGAts in any case, so what’s the point in tiptoeing around what the actual problem is in the U.S. right now? I do hope for a better tomorrow. We will not reach a better tomorrow if we don’t directly confront fascism and totalitarianism.
Apologies, but Ialready have to deal with that fact in real life, so that’s also not any kind of incentive to me.
All of that sounds like throwing gas on an already existing fire; I see no personal benefit in watching such a film, when I am actively combatting FUD on an everyday basis.
I ain’t seen the film yet but the interview Garland did on Kermode & Mayo’s Take adds context that some may find useful. Doesn’t sound like fence sitting to me, Mayo pointed out that, to him, the film certainly takes an antifascist stance.
Well, i guess they’ve been doing a film review show for, like, 20 years now? Used to be with the BBC until they moved to a podcast format a couple years ago which means they are more free to bring politics into the things they discuss. And certainly left leaning when it comes to politics. So, i would say well respected - Simon Mayo asks good questions and Mark Kermode has, i think, a lot of worthwhile things to say about films. The latter’s history of epic rants about terrible films is well known.