The Film Civil War and What I Learned

 

The film Civil War debuted this weekend, but it is not about the past Civil War, the one where the good guys and the bad guys and the reasons behind the war are pretty clear. Instead, the film is set in a near future, one in which the divisive animosities of today have played themselves out to an unbearably violent war. (Note: the R rating is earned for remarkably disturbing images of war and death. This is not one to take the children to.) Director and writer Alex Garland has shown admirable restraint by not assigning a moral high ground to either side of the conflict. Instead, the film focuses on a carload of journalists traveling through the chaos of war from New York City to Washington DC—Lee (Kirsten Dunst), the weary war photographer; Joel (Wagner Moura), the experienced war correspondent; Sammy ( Stephen McKinley Henderson), the aging NewYork Times reporter; and Jesse (Cailey Spaeny), the very young aspiring photographer. These four characters provide the lens through which we experience the conflict and, more importantly, allow us, the audience, to decide what we want to learn. The writing, directing, cinematography and acting are excellent, but this is not a review. Instead, I want to share three things I learned.

1.     War is hell. The film is unswerving in depicting the destructiveness of war, both physical and emotional. Fires burn, unchecked in cities and forests. The camera does not spare us gruesome details as People are killed in almost every possible way. This destruction is especially devastating because it takes place in the familiar settings of our life—the JC Penney’s parking lot, the rural gas station, the roadside tourist Santa-land. 

But even more disturbing is the destruction of human compassion.  Throughout the film we see men and women torture and kill. At one point the reporter asks why are you shooting? The response: Because they are shooting at me. There is no ideological high ground, just mindless violence responding to violence. And then, almost more disturbing, are those who try to ignore the war around them—an eerily quiet town barricaded against the war, ignoring the pain and suffering just outside their city limits.

So, the first lesson I learned in the movie is that the conflict and animosity we are feeding today could lead to physical war and suffering in the future. It’s not worth the cost. We don’t want to end up in a world even remotely resembling the one in this movie.

2.     Objective journalism matters. At one point in the movie, young Jessie is asked to make the call whether a tortured man lives or dies. (He is nearly dead anyway.) Terrified, she freezes. Experienced photographer Lee simply photographs the horrifying scene. Later, Jessie asks Lee, “Why couldn’t I speak out, make the decision?” Lee responds, “That’s not our job. Our job is to take the photo and let those who see it make the decision.” And that is the job of journalists: To reveal as truthfully as possible all the sides of an issue, so that their readers can make informed decisions.

This is not the way journalism seems to be heading now. An April 12 Wall Street Journal article details the current conflict at the New York Times “where management has been at odds with factions of the newsroom over . . . coverage of sensitive topics like the transgender community and social justice.” Leaders at the paper are “concerned that some Times journalists are compromising their neutrality and applying ideological purity tests to coverage decisions.” Then there is this April 9 story in The Free Press, in which long-time NPR reporter Uri Berliner shares cases of blatant biased reporting at NPR. He says “An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don’t have an audience that reflects America.” Berliner warns that the press “expect[s] high standards of transparency from public figures and institutions, but [doesn’t] practice those standards.” 

The lesson here: If we are going to avoid an all-out conflagration (or even dysfunctional government) the free press needs to step up as a source of fair and unbiased reporting. Thomas Jefferson said, "our liberty depends on the freedom of the press." The press matters in a democracy because people can only make good decisions at the polls if they are well informed. Without clear-eyed objective reporting, voters will not know who to trust or what to believe. Then the way is clear for misinformation and conspiracy theories to take the tiller of the ship of state. We need to be able to trust the press.

3.     Each individual journey matters. This film is centered on a journey, an archetypal, mythical journey if you will. As the journalists’ SUV travels from NYC to DC, the characters also journey toward self-knowledge, as we all do in our life experience, a mythic journey we know so well from fairy tales, Star Trek, and Lord of the Rings. A young innocent sets forth on adventure, is aided and mentored by experienced guides, and completes the journey with a boon, a gift, a knowledge she didn’t have before. 

 

In this film, Jessie is the innocent. She says she is 23 but looks not a day over 16. Along the way she faces trial after trial and is taught and saved by her mentors. In the end, she faces the reality and the horror of what is happening, bravely recording the truth to share with the world. Perhaps her photographs will stun her country into fighting for a better future. 

And that, finally, is what all three messages add up to for me. If we don’t want physical war and violence to destroy our country, or even metaphorical warfare to prevent our growth, we must each individually follow the hero path and fight for a better world. We must strive to find ways to overcome animosity and distrust. We must look for ways to promote wise governance. We can’t hide from it all, hoping it will go away. We need to find trustworthy sources, even if that means consuming many different media outlets, reflecting different biases. We need to be informed. We need to vote. We need to speak up rationally, without enmity. We need to do what we can, individually, to help our country.

The film Civil War shows us that the direction we are heading is not where we want to go. Let’s change course now.