Director: Alex Garland

Stars: D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Cosmo Jarvis, Will Poulter, Kit Connor

Alex Garland’s vivid and harrowing war picture is based upon the experiences of communications officer Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza and focuses on one specific incident during the Iraq war in 2006. Mendoza also co-directed the film, and the script is taken from the testimony of the U.S. combatants, some of whom were present to oversee the recording.

The incident is recounted in real time over ninety minutes as Mendoza (Reservation Dogs’ Woon-A-Tai) and his fellow soldiers in the Alpha One platoon, occupy a multi-story apartment building in the Ramadi province, terrifying the family that lives on the ground floor. Their mission is to ensure that the area is secure enough for a ground invasion to take place the next day.  Mendoza requests that air support monitors their position, while sniper Elliott Miller (Jarvis) keeps an eye on the building opposite. A surprise attack leaves the team enshrouded in dust and in panic and disarray.

There are no background stories here, the script focusing merely on how the soldiers react to the boredom and the subsequent incident. The opening half hour is mainly the soldiers sitting around waiting for something to happen, occasionally muttering military jargon into their headsets. This measured approach makes the attack and its attendant confusion and panic all the more effective, although the deep immersion may prove too much for some. David Thompson’s mainly handheld camera work bolsters the sense of disorientation, along with Glenn Freemantle’s unsparing sound design.

It’s a senses-battering depiction of war in all its horror, brutality, tedium, and ultimately, as evidenced in the closing shot, redundancy. The picture thankfully eschews Hollywood sentimentality, which makes the shots over the closing credits of the real actors embracing their real counterparts in a spirit of manly comradery, feel jarring and indulgent.

Warfare is released 18th April

David Willoughby

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