As much as Warfare is detailing a true story during the events of the Iraq War in 2006, Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland‘s panic-attack of a movie goes beyond merely being “based on true events.” Instead, it’s noting itself as a film based on “the memory of the people who lived it.”
With that, the film’s immersive and authentic nature can’t really be argued against, as Mendoza, an Iraq War veteran who met Garland when they worked on Civil War together, is one of the very people whose memory is being laid out across Warfare‘s impossibly tense 95 minutes.
As tense as the film proves to be, Mendoza and Garland catch the audience unaware in its opening minutes, allowing us something of an insight into the personalities of the Navy SEALs we’ll come to spend our time with. We hear the familiar beat of Swedish DJ Eric Prydz’s 2004 club hit “Call on Me” as a decidedly horny group of young men gather round their communal TV to watch its music video (and if you know, you know), responding as hot-blooded young men would. It’s an amusing sequence and, given the film’s overall temperament surprisingly quite tender; and it can’t be stressed enough how it’s really the only moment of levity, so savour it as you can.
From the title card onwards, Warfare plays out in real time as we follow the platoon on their surveillance mission, essentially holding two Iraqi families hostage over night as they utilise their share house. Despite the first 30-40 minutes of the film highlighting the mundanity of the mission, there’s a sense of tautness that lingers across every frame. We briefly gather information about the platoon and their dynamics with each other – we are aware that Tommy (Kit Connor) is the newbie of the group – but the script is largely laced with military jargon and in-house banter. It adds to the realism of it all, and despite the cast being stacked with some of the more popular young names currently working – Connor, Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, Charles Melton, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (who portrays Mendoza) and Noah Centineo, to name a few – there’s a large anonymity to them all, further driving home how this war could truly be fought by any young man.
And with such a stacked cast, Mendoza and Garland subvert the “too big to be killed off” mentality that so many films adhere to, with Warfare denying any sense of safety for those watching. Reality doesn’t play by such rules, and just like the men at the centre of this story, we, as viewers, are unaware of what will transpire. What does transpire is the film’s first gut-punch moment that utterly transforms its personality. After the aforementioned minutes of mundanity, a hand grenade is dropped through one of the dwelling windows, and it’s from here out that the viewer is given not a moment to catch their breath. It’s a sensory assault.
Mendoza, who, with Garland, dedicates the film as a tribute to wounded SEAL Elliott Miller (played by Cosmo Jarvis), who he served alongside, has stated that he wants Warfare to be a “bridge to communication about the subject of combat”, and there’s no doubt that the film allows a realness that solidifies the horror that comes with the territory. This is what essentially combats those wondering if there’s a point to it all, as Warfare very quickly wraps its story up. There’s a singular focus here. No large, wider context.
Those wanting that wider exploration could be left dissatisfied, but Mendoza and Garland have never claimed this as a traditional narrative. Warfare sets itself out to detail a specific point in time, resulting in a traumatic, non-romanticised, immaculately crafted experience that is sure to disconcert in a physical and mental capacity that so few war films have ever achieved.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Warfare is now screening in Australian theatres.
