Civil War is a visually stunning and serious 2024 film, currently playing at the Maine Film Center downtown, which shows a variety of independent movies. The film offers an eerily near-future depiction of what the United States would look like if various regional factions composed of different states rose up against an authoritarian government.
The setting provides realistic representations of the U.S. in disarray, featuring destructed versions of ordinary buildings one would come across in daily life such as JC Penney or a gas station. By focusing certain clips around aspects of daily life that become altered to fit a war zone, viewers start to think about how a civil war might look in real life, where the film becomes a lot more relevant. The shots feel almost anticipatory of what could happen, and soon.
The plot takes special focus and interest in the lives of a group of photojournalists, following their journey across the country in pursuit of war documentation, all while trying to stay alive.
In the opening scene, renowned war photographer Lee Smith saves adolescent Jessie Cullen, who has long admired her work, from a suicide bombing in Brooklyn, New York. Lee and her colleague Joel make it their mission to interview and photograph the president in Washington D.C. before the city falls. A young Jessie begs Joel to include her in the trip, unknowingly to Lee and finally succeeds at convincing him.
As the group heads west, they stop at a rural gas station where the owners stand, armed and attempting to dissuade the group from purchasing gas. As Lee negotiates payment with Canadian dollars, Jessie insists on going back by the road to take a photo of two men hanging under a car wash tunnel, while one armed man follows. Stunned at the sight, Jessie forgets all about the photograph. Lee attempts to diffuse the situation with the store owner by asking for him to pose with his victims, which were the men hanging. The group leaves, and Jessie remains upset that she let her emotions get the best of her, not capturing the scene herself.
At the close of this scene, Lee appears annoyed at Jessie for being upset that she did not take a picture since this seems entirely in her control. The emotional piece for Lee does not appear left inside her given that she has worked as a photographer in tragic locations since the start of her career. Jessie, unlike Lee, has not yet lost her child-like naivete.
Next, the group sets out for an overnight stop near an ongoing fight, watching as militiamen assault a building of loyalists. Jessie takes another chance at photographing the site, and Lee watches, seeing her potential as a war photographer. The group sticks together, staying another night, although this time at a refugee camp. The next morning, they discover a well-kept, quaint town that appears blissfully ignorant of the wartime events. Making a stop in the town, Lee and Jessie grow closer, having fun playing dress up and taking more photographs in a local boutique.
At this point in the film, Jessie has noticeably improved in her photography skills, becoming increasingly desensitized to the painful imagery that comes with living through a war zone. Lee takes her under her wing more and more, noticing her improving ability to emotionally distance herself from these events.
After a sniper battle, the group encounters two other reporters they know, Tony and Bonhai on the road. Tony and Jessie playfully switch vehicles while both cars are still in motion, climbing through the windows of one to the next before Bohai and Jessie get captured by civilians dumping dead bodies into a mass grave. The rest of the group attempts to intervene, but Bonhai is killed by a xenophobic militant after mentioning he is from Hong Kong. Lee’s mentor Sammy swings by with a car, rescuing the group, but is shot to death and removed from the driver’s seat as they make their escape.
The group arrives at the Western Forces military camp in Charlottesville, each grieving the loss in their own separate ways. After hearing that the government’s defenders have mostly surrendered, the group finally arrives at the capital to complete their mission. The Western forces of California and Texas face off with the Secret Service and kill the press secretary, and Jessie exposes herself to the gunfire to capture the fight with a shocking level of risk. Lee jumps in to get her to safety, is killed, and photographed by Jessie during the crossfire.
Jessie’s ability to stay calm after watching her mentor die connects back to an earlier conversation where she asked Lee if she would be able to photograph her dead. In this conversation, Lee said she thinks she probably could have given her years of experience dealing with loss during tragic events. At this point in the film, it is clear Jessie has surpassed her own mentor’s photographic level at such a young age, all at the expense of her innocence in the world.
In the final scene, the president gets captured in the Oval Office and begs Joel for mercy, allowing him to document his final words, “Please, don’t let them kill me.” Jessie captures the execution Lee set out for in the beginning, filling her shoes once again.
This film effectively showcases how trauma can speed up the ageing process, which we see in how quickly Jessie’s emotions start to dissipate, and her work becomes at the level of her adult mentor.
Civil War carefully chooses imagery that conveys the emotionally rich landscape of the U.S. at national war. These images, strung together for the film, capture just how casual acts of violence have become in today’s world and remind one of what it is like to lose their innocence, becoming unaffected by the issues of today.
~ Jenna Boling `24
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