Warfare
- fivedollartuesday
- Apr 22
- 3 min read
Intrigued by its unique real-time editing approach, I walked into Warfare, unsure what else to expect. I knew it would be a challenging watch, especially given its subject and true story nature. But there's leeway in direction, and I had no way of discerning beforehand if it would be real or Hollywood "real." But Warfare led with the former in a gripping glimpse of war that left me in stunned silence.
Written for director Mendoza's friend Elliott, Warfare tells the true story of a Navy SEAL platoon on a dangerous mission in the larger Battle of Ramadi. Stranded and injured on an operation gone wrong, the soldiers must rely on each other to get to safety.
One of the storytelling tools that directors Ray Mendoza (an Iraq War Veteran in his directorial debut) and Alex Garland (Civil War writer and director) employ is the real-time edit, which is both disorienting and immersive. It's a powerful choice that functions well in service of the story. At just over an hour and a half, Warfare is not particularly long compared to many other films today. But by the time the credits rolled, you could have asked me whether I had spent three hours or three minutes in the theater, and I would not have been able to answer you. It was such a compelling presentation of a life-or-death situation where the passage of time escapes reason.
Thus, Warfare is very careful in its telling. Even a beginning scene, seemingly extraneous at first glance, sets up and captures the teams' brotherhood. Directors Mendoza and Garland interviewed and corroborated the SEAL team members' accounts and found experienced actors to portray them. The film's pace is tense amidst the chaos of war, but the more than capable cast meets the challenge head-on. Will Poulter's (Death of a Unicorn) "Erik" leads the unit with a commanding presence in an almost impossible scenario. D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Reservation Dogs) follows as a stand-in for director Mendoza in the film and gives an earnest, devoted portrayal. Joseph Quinn (Gladiator II), as "Sam," communicates much even with simple glances. And Cosmo Jarvis (Shōgun) truly inhabits his character "Elliott" while, along with the rest of the cast, never letting you doubt the story's realness.
Another fantastic aspect is the sound design and how much it adds to the visually traumatic shots, making for a truly visceral experience. The lack of a score drives the tension, forcing focus only on the immediate. Typically, I love film scores and their artistic credence to a story. But Warfare doesn't rely on music to make you feel. It puts you there, on the battlefield, commands you to see, to hear, to try to know what these people went through, and it's one of the most compelling directing choices of this war film based on the memories of the SEAL team members who lived it.
But Warfare doesn't rely on music to make you feel. It puts you there, on the battlefield, commands you to see, to hear, to try to know...
Warfare is an incredibly contained film that takes place almost entirely in one location, microcosmic of its depiction of an hour-and-a-half military operation within the nearly year-long bloody Battle of Ramadi. In much the same way, even though it doesn't venture far beyond the walls of the house they're trapped in, Warfare manages to encompass a much larger story of brotherhood and war and the devastation left behind. I wasn't able to catch a half-price Tuesday showing and found myself turning over twelve dollars to take it in. And it was the best film I've seen lately: haunting, raw, thoughtful. Well-crafted and well-worth it.
