As a connoisseur of wartime miniseries starring dozens of boys, I was naturally drawn to Warfare, the latest A24 popcorn prestige release. Though many roll their eyes at the marketing (from CIVIL WAR DIRECTOR Alex Garland and IRAQ WAR VETERAN Ray Mendoza), the film itself is quite down to earth and not obsessed with its own farts. Taking place in near-real time, Warfare presents a dusty, grisly, no-frills agonizing assault on a group of underprepared, overwhelmed American soldiers on the ground in Iraq. The cast, as mentioned, is composed of dozens of boys: D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Michael Gandolfini, Charles Melton, the list goes on and on. This is about as anti-war a film can get without beating you over the head with it… I think? Can a film be truly anti-war? That’s been a long debate with no real answers. I think “no”, but nothing feels patriotic here; it’s just the survival of guys in way over their heads.
Warfare touts the fact that it is “based on memory,” not a memoir or an official readout of an Iraq War skirmish. Mendoza was there, represented by Woon-A-Tai. I don’t know much about the production other than the shots of the real veterans visiting the set that plays during the credits, but it feels like Garland was more of a technical director trying to get Mendoza’s vision as close to reality as possible.
The film’s best moments come when the “memory” conceit is in full bloom. There are many shots that may seem like strange non-sequiturs – a tea kettle and cups on a table arranged just so, limbs scattered across a doorstep, a man’s uncut penis being exposed as he is treated for gruesome leg wounds, the list goes on. These are moments that have never left these veterans’ minds, they can see them clear as day when recounting this story. Warfare does not shy away from the atrocities American soldiers committed, here represented by the men taking over a house they “like” as their secret base, trapping the Iraqi family downstairs and telling them to get over it. We don’t see much of this family, frozen with fear, but we never forget that they’re stuck in one room in the corner while a military occupation blows up everything they own.
Though Warfare is only about 90 minutes, the agonized wailing, constant gunfire, and missing limbs make for an unpleasantly tense viewing experience. It’s less of a heat check for some of these young men than others – how do we judge Joseph Quinn’s performance if he’s bleeding out and screaming bloody murder the whole time? Will Poulter carries himself well, as does Woon-A-Tai, the one from Heartstopper, and Michael Gandolfini. Basic training must have been crazy, if Band of Brothers is the standard. There’s one thing for sure: Charles Melton comes in like a bolt of lightning, his character taking charge and providing these terrified boys with someone who can actually help.
Warfare feels like a worthy experiment in A24’s continued attempts to broaden their output. Does it “appeal to middle America?” I guess? If anything, veterans watching this film might have PTSD flashbacks of these same things happening to them because of our cruel government. Maybe this is my own interpretation, but the ending feels like celebrating the men surviving this rather than celebrating the victory over Iraq, an illegal war that should never have happened (a bold take, I know).
Warfare
2025
Dir. Alex Garland & Ray Mendoza
94 min
Opens Friday, 4/11 @ Coolidge Corner Theatre
