War Story

source: War Story

Lee (Catherine Keener) is a war correspondent, now in Sicily. She has just had a major ordeal in Libya, of which we find out the details later. She is physically bruised with a fractured jaw and broken ribs. She pops pain killers and looks at a photo of a girl holding her dead brother. She is emotionally distressed and grief stricken and has yet to move on. She hints that she was raped by her jerky reactions and "too many men." While in Sicily she meets a Tunisian refugee (Hafsia Herzi) and wants to help her. She needs an abortion and wants to go to France. Islamic refugees don't feel welcomed, and rightly so. That is pretty much it. We find out more of what happened in Libya, which while sad wasn't a barn burner as Ben Kinsley remarks, "These things happen" in his cameo. There are scenes in which little to nothing happens, and long real time pauses. This is not an action film, and not a lot of drama. It is a look at character of a gritty war photographer overwhelmed with what life throws at her, yet she manages. Catherine Keener did a convincing job in what was little more than a one woman play. The slow painful drama which drags on is clearly not a film for everyone. Indeed, this is more of the type of film critics will praise while many folks may find a waste of time. Parental Guide: F-bomb. Brief sex, brief nudity behind glass (Alessandra Librio)

The protagonist here obviously has PTSD, or something very similar. Despite it being difficult to garner sympathy for her, she's often almost rude, imperious, a little selfish, you quickly know the reason why, and that why becomes even clearer the more you watch. She also has an irritating sense of entitlement, or perhaps in her grief she's unconsciously looking to be challenged or caught out. That's a difficult line to walk. She's also a tourist. It's as a concerned tourist perhaps that she attaches herself to another person likely also with PTSD, and more problems than that. That's when the film begins to make sense, when it finds a raison d'être beyond an interesting character study. Ships in the night, or the other side of love? This is definitely an arthouse indie film, but it has some technical aspects that make it worth the watch. One is the Directors ability to follow a character at shoulder level for some distance, as if the audience has become a companion. And then there is the use of background blur, which is also interesting. And the players themselves are superbly acted. War Story deserves a lot more than its low score I noticed just before I wrote this.

One of my favorite actresses, Catherine Keener, stars as a war photographer who recently endured a brutal detainment in Libya who holes up in Sicily to come to terms with her ordeal. All this happens not far from the home of her former lover and mentor (Ben Kingsley). Soon she crosses paths with a Tunisian migrant in need of an abortion and safe passage to France, who bears a striking resemblance to a Libyan girl she photographed just before her capture. As much as I wanted to like this film, I just was booooorrrrd outta my gord up in here! Like I said, Catherine is one of my all-time favs, but her performance wasn't enough to save this schnooze-fest. Good performances all around, just needed a little more in the way of storyline I'd say-?? Marginal thumbs down...

Imagine, if you will, Catherine Keener bending over a sink for whatever reason. Imagine a mournful solo cello noodling away on the soundtrack. Now imagine Catherine Keener snapping photos of Sicily (which, it turns out, is a sh*thole) or of various fashionably grungy Middle Eastern types. Minimalist synthesizer noise on the soundtrack. Now she's back at the sink. Now taking snapshots. Ear-splitting vocal on the track. Now the sink. Regarding the spoiler alert: there is no plot. That's the spoiler. Regarding the music: we all love music, right? I love music, too. But the music on the soundtrack made me want to run twin power drills into my ears.

For one to enjoy any cinematic experience one should have some back ground as to what the characters are going through and the reason for this post traumatic behavior. Watching the main character spend 15 minutes of screen time just rearranging a hotel room and experiencing some kind of self discovery of injuries without any idea of a background to the story is rather boring. To the very end when the credits were rolling, one is wondering as to what the Plot was and what's the end. Total waste of time. The Screen play, the Direction, the Cinematography are all rather amateurish in the garb of artistic cinema. Surely a great story told in a most haphazard way. What it could have been and what it ended in.

I expected an entirely different film when I decided to watch War Story, but I feel some of the reviews have been a little unfair. This film's biggest flaw is being wrongfully advertised as a thriller, as it is very slow-paced and it can easily bore an audience, specially when they're not prepared to sit through 90 minutes of long scenes of the lead character reflecting on her traumas, life, death, etc. But this is all intentional and I believe well justified in the end, War Story's highlights are the beautiful music score (Which I'll admit was the reason I watched in the first place), a brilliant performance by Catherine Keener, and her ability to carry a film with not much dialogue but a lot of visual references, you can really see and feel Lee's pain and her suffering in some of the most subtle body language and expressions, and her frustration too. If you are expecting a violent, brutal, thriller you'll be disappointed, but as a slow-paced, believable and grievous drama that feels accurately portrayed and believable, you will appreciate it and by the end of the film you'll be left with a sense of full-circle closure.

I think the director was attempting to complete a movie with the fewest possible camera moves. It was drudgery at the highest level...what a terrible effort. And what the heck was the storyline??? Acting was marginal. The history leading to the events we saw was poorly explained. Too much foreign language spoken. The camera shots were endless with nothing changing in them. The written summary must have been gleaned from reading the book because there wasn't any of that explanation in the movie. I wonder if this was the directors first movie? That would explain everything. I'm not even clear on what countries they were in, and what nationalities they all were.

I am very surprised to see that the film has such a low score (4,9 at the time this review is written) and gets negative to mediocre reviews from most critics and viewers. Yes, this is not an enjoyable film. But it is so for a reason! It's the story of a traumatized war photographer, told from her point of view. And the way the camera tells the story stays definitely true to this character's confusion, denial and pain. The highlights are Keener's performance and the beautifully minimalist score by Dave Eggar and Amy Lee. I'm sure Jackson knew that this style of filmmaking is highly unpopular, especially in the blockbuster-driven and feel-good-indie-film-filled US. I give him additional kudos for deciding to go for it anyway.

I think this film deserves more than the stars it has accrued. I believe this score is just due to lack of reviews (by anyone with a brain...ha ha) . It's VERY Bleak but compelling, believable and well acted. This film is looks beautiful and the musical score is gorgeous. Catherine Keener is brilliantly cast in the role of this wasted woman who still has the tenacity to try. Light Saturday night movie with popcorn this is not. From the title you might think there will be conflict and violence but you'll be disappointed if that's what you are looking for. This film is dramatic and poignant and very thought provoking. The themes of post traumatic stress, depression and friendship were very well portrayed for me.