Is Alex Garland's Warfare anti-war? Director breaks down stance
The new film – co-directed by former US Navy Seal Ray Mendoza – is a visceral account of an Iraq War mission.
There's a famous quote attributed to the legendary French New Wave filmmaker Francois Truffaut that posits there's no such thing as an anti-war movie.
"Every film about war ends up being pro-war," the 400 Blows director told The Chicago Tribune back in 1973.
It's an interesting talking point, and one which may well spring to mind when watching Warfare – the latest film from Ex Machina and Civil War's Alex Garland, which he has co-directed with former US Navy Seal Ray Mendoza.
The film – which boasts a starry young cast including Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor and Joseph Quinn – is based on Mendoza's own experiences during the Iraq War, and follows a platoon of American soldiers in real time after a botched surveillance mission sees some of their number sustaining life-threatening injuries.
While the film has faced some online accusations of being military propaganda ahead of release, in truth it's hard to watch it and leave the cinema with any notion beyond the fact that war is hell.
So, what does Garland make of that Truffaut quote: is it really impossible to make an anti-war film?
"I think the quote is an intelligent quote, because it highlights a danger, and the danger is just that cinema is inherently seductive," he told RadioTimes.com during an exclusive interview.
"But if you are thoughtful and aware of what the dangers are, you can avoid making what becomes, in effect, a bit of Hollywood military propaganda.
"And I don't know, I personally think that Paths of Glory, which is an old black and white [Stanley] Kubrick film – a very brilliant war film – [is] definitely anti-war.
"[It's] very difficult to walk out of a film like that and feel that you want to go and start up a war tomorrow morning.... that's not where your brain would lead you. So I think that this film is in the spirit of some of those other movies."
Read more:
- Hailee Steinfeld "forever grateful" to Sinners role for pushing her to research her multiracial heritage
- Steve Coogan explains what it was like working with a penguin in The Penguin Lessons
Garland added that while there have previously been films made by veterans – he cites Oliver Stone's Platoon as an especially noteworthy example – he thinks that Warfare does have something which sets it apart from previous war movies.
"I'm not sure there's been as unfiltered a story, in as much as a story, an account, which is attempting to be as forensically accurate as this," he said. "It makes it unusual and gives it an unusual quality and an unusual tone.
"And it's an interesting thing, you know, not having many unfiltered accounts by veterans in cinema is strange, given how many war films there are. But [it's] very, very good to be standing alongside Ray as he did this and watch him do it."
Warfare is in UK cinemas from Friday 18th April.
If you're looking for something to watch tonight, check out our TV Guide and Streaming Guide or visit our Film hub for all the latest news. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
