Civil War by Alex Garland may be a sci-fi film, but the war scenario it depicts feels frighteningly realistic. The controversial film is now available to pre-order for home cinema
With the US elections taking place this year, Civil War has just been released in cinemas and captures the zeitgeist of the politically tense situation. Director Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Extinction) manages to take the hardened fronts between Republicans and Democrats a step further with sci-fi elements. It is a film that creates a fictional vision of the future, but at the same time draws a war film of the present, with present and tangible themes.
This is what the sci-fi war film Civil War is about
The USA is shattered, a civil war divides the nation. War journalists Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and Joel (Wagner Moura) embark on a journey across the country and witness harrowing developments. Their goal is to get to the president in Washington D.C.. But the reporting soon turns into a fight for survival, as the leadership of their country increasingly resembles a dictatorship.
(Civil War on 4K UHD)
Civil War is an intense and realistic movie experience
This gloomy vision of the future is more soft sci-fi, as it is less about technological achievements and more about a US civil war dealing with political and sociological conflicts.
Our editor Esther Stroh describes her intense cinematic experience of Civil War in detail and praises the actors, who convey the story emotionally from the main to the supporting cast. Kirsten Dunst leads the way as a war reporter. The film also questions the motivation behind her dangerous work:
It throws us into the profession of war reporters in a frighteningly real way. They rush into a raging conflict with their cameras and film burning people instead of saving them.
Why audiences and critics are so enthusiastic is probably also due to the emotionality of the subject matter, which is presented in a visually stunning and sensitive way.
It is a fictional experience of war that feeds on real fears and seems all the more tangible given the current news situation – because it puts its finger in the wound of our present.
