Photo Courtesy of Murray Close/A24 via AP
Michael Gandolfini, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, playing Ray Mendoza, and Adain Bradley have a tactical briefing in “Warfare.”
Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland’s “Warfare” isn’t your average war film.
It is a testament to the power of cinema. Based on Mendoza’s experience from the Iraq War as a Navy SEAL, the film depicts an encounter his platoon had after the Second Battle of Ramadi in 2006 based entirely on testimonies from platoon members. Mendoza is a character in the film, played by D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai in a standout performance, and while he is not the main character, many of the scenes are from his perspective.
The platoon takes control of a house in Ramadi and monitors the neighborhood and marketplace surrounding them through air support and snipers.
The platoon notices activity increase in the marketplace, and it becomes apparent that they do not occupy the house unnoticed. When things go wrong, the platoon’s struggle to survive is shown in real time.
Many war films have gunshots at a low volume, heroic sound tracks and a sparing use of gore.
“Warfare” has none of these things.
The film is a great example of how focusing on sound design as much as visual can elevate a film.
Sitting in the theater, every gunshot and explosion is at an ear-piercing volume that never loses its effectiveness and makes guns from other war films sound like peashooters.
When the film is from the perspective of a certain character, viewers will hear what gunshots and a ringing in one’s ear after being close to an explosion sound like to the character.
There is no sound track except for its first scene but thanks to great directing and acting, any sound track would’ve distracted from the story and taken away from its realism.
The film does not shy away from the carnage of war. Some war media have shown gore directly on screen before, like in Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” and HBO’s “The Pacific,” but Hollywood generally prefers wounds to look like a blood-soaked hole on a uniform or a good, small VFX job.
“Warfare,” on the other hand, shows the carnage of battle without sugarcoating. It shows it all in detail, and injured soldiers scream in justified agony for what feels like most of their screen time. It’s hard to watch sometimes, but the film definitely accomplishes its goal of giving all the stomach-turning details of the encounter.
“Warfare” is unlike any other war film I’ve ever seen in its complete commitment to realism. It lacks the traditional mission-focused story, but neither does it focus deeply on any philosophical discussions about the Iraq War and its purpose. In fact, the film seems to lack a clear message in general.
Whether “Warfare” is military propaganda or a piece of anti-war media has been debated online. Some say its depiction of the American military is glamorized. Some say the film is clearly telling its audience something about the Iraq War.
“Warfare” does neither of those things.
At no point in the film do the soldiers ask each other “Why are we here?” and drop their weapons. Nor do they sound like recruitment posters and act like superheroes. Perhaps through its unflinchingly realistic depiction of battle, “Warfare” could be interpreted as an antiwar film, but it probably wasn’t made to be one.
What Mendoza and Garland have created is a film where a true and realistic experience of war is reenacted on screen. The film is dedicated to Elliot Miller, a fellow Navy SEAL Mendoza served with who was involved in the encounter.
He, along with Mendoza, are the only characters depicted without an alias, but the respect Mendoza has for the men he served with is clear. The tag line, “Everything is based on memory,” shows that the film is chiefly concerned with doing justice to the experiences of the people involved in that encounter in Ramadi.
Both subversive and intense, “Warfare” is one of the most remarkable films ever made in its genre for its boldness and honesty. 