A PRIVATE WAR

Rosamund Pike     Jamie Dornan     Tom Hollander     Stanley Tucci

     I don’t know if other people will have the same experience in watching this film as I did, but to me it was like listening to television news stories from Sri Lanka, Iraq, Aphganistan, Libya, and Syria one after the other, highlighting mangled, bloodied bodies and cries of misery.  Our heroine, Marie Colvin—a journalist and real person—(played eloquently by Rosamund Pike) seems to be drawn to war zones, even as she hates them.  She says at one point, “In covering war, can we really make a difference?”  In her own mind, that is what she is about, trying to get the world to care.  And she is successful, at least in her editor’s mind, when he compliments her:  “You have the God-given talent to make people stop and care.”  I wish the story had moved me to a greater extent, but it didn’t, which I will address below.

     We first get a bit of background on Marie, at home in London with her husband David, a professor/novelist, when she is early in her career.  He makes a comment about her being away from home so much, and clearly doesn’t appreciate the passion she has for her work.  When she gets seriously injured in Sri Lanka and begins showing signs of PTSD, he tries to get her to change directions.  But after a stint in a mental hospital, in a couple of years she is headed to Iraq.

     That is where she will meet the photographer Paul Conroy (Dornan), who is awed by her and eventually becomes a devoted partner in covering war stories.  He sticks with her throughout, being a kind of protector (which she allows it) and pal.  They end up in Libya during the Arab Spring, and meet with Gaddafi—whom she has met before—and she asks him hard questions, which he responds to with heart and humor.  

     By this time, Marie is showing signs of serious alcohol problems and issues with Sean, her editor (Hollander).  She has met someone who—if anyone could—inspire her to rest on her laurels, but at this point, Sean tries to reel her in to continue.  She comes back with the argument that what she does protects him (and her readers).  “I see it so you don’t have to”, she says; whereupon Sean comes back with, “But if you lose your convictions, what hope do the rest of us have?”  That kind of guilt trip will always get to Marie, and she travels on to Syria and Assad’s bombing of civilians there.  

     I was taken with director Matthew Heineman’s previous films, which were documentaries: Cartel Land, City of Ghosts.  Here, he attempts to dramatize Marie Colvin’s life (based on Marie Brenner’s article in “Vanity Fair” magazine, with a screenplay by Arash Amel) as a gutsy, committed journalist whose life-long wish was to appeal to populations of the world to help those in desperate need.  But, surprisingly, the film doesn’t leave the viewer with a clear understanding of Marie herself.  Why did she keep chasing war stories to the point that it was almost—if not in fact—suicidal?  Did her editor, Sean Ryan (Hollander), try to keep her out of harm’s way—until the sensational story became more important?  Nor does the film pull us in emotionally so that we’re cheering at the end.  No, it’s missing the heart and soul that his documentaries captured so well.

     That being said, Pike’s performance is flawless and moving throughout.  She clearly understood and appreciated the character of Marie Colvin, in ways that I could not in seeing this film.

This is about recent wars and intended as an anti-war film.

Grade:  C+                                     By Donna R. Copeland

CITY OF GHOSTS

     There was a recent National Geographic Channel program called “Hell on Earth:  The Fall of Syria and the Rise of Isis”, which reconstructed events in the Middle East that led up to the terrorist organization’s establishment in the area, which I reviewed earlier (http://drdonnasfilmreviews.blogspot.com/2017/06/hell-on-earth-fall-of-syria-and-rise-of.html?m=0).  This documentary is a report of subsequent events that have occurred in the city of Raqqa.

     In 2012, Raqqa began the cry for freedom from Assad’s regime during the Arab Spring, and protests began spreading throughout Syria.  They were beginning to feel successful, but when a vacuum in leadership after the revolution occurred, Abu Bakr Al-Baghadadi and ISIS saw the opportunity, entered the city with great fanfare and public assassinations, and declared it their Caliphate, a territory within which ISIS’ power could be exercised.  Raqqa would be the capital of what they called the Islamic State.  They immediately began instituting Sharia law and punishing severely any who resisted.

  When journalists of Raqqa, became aware of the number of people ISIS was assassinating, a group of them joined together to resist by reporting deaths and other news on social media.  They call themselves RBSS (Raqqa is being Slaughtered Silently).  For a time, they were able to secretly film ISIS’ cruelties, and the disappearance of schools, universities, or hospitals, in the city, which loses its electricity repeatedly for as long as a week.  But when they started being discovered, some had to flee to Turkey and Germany.

   Then, ISIS itself began to use the media, hiring professionals, and sending out false reports about how calm the city is, using western games like “Grand Theft Auto” for recruitment of followers:  “Come join ISIS and play the game in real life.”  There are organized, concerted efforts like “camps on the streets” to capture the minds of children.  They offer them phones and other goodies to join them.  Eventually, ISIS banned all satellites in Raqqa, eliminating most of the channels of communication RBSS was using.

     RBSS consists of only a few journalists, most of whom have had to leave Syria for their lives; still, ISIS pursues them, even murdering them in other countries like Turkey and Germany.  These brave souls continue to try to do their work, but know full well their lives are always in danger.  They have received international acclaim.  For instance, their bravery was acknowledged by awarding them the International Press Freedom Award in 2015 in New York City.

     City of Ghosts is a tale about modern-day terrorism, in which a whole city can become a ghost town if the wrong people can enter at the right time.  It has special poignancy in the close following of a few of the resistors and the turns their lives have taken and the losses they have incurred.

     Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land) has produced a documentary that needs to serve as a warning to western democracies.  It seems that it doesn’t take much for ISIS to see an opportunity and seize upon it as a way of exerting power upon an unsuspecting people.  One of the ways is to attack journalism and squash its reporting of real events.  We should be grateful to those who fight back at great risk.

A sobering look at how ISIS can assume power over a people.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

CARTEL LAND

Cartel Land is a troubling documentary by Matthew Heineman that indicates we have little to be optimistic about in achieving a resolution of the border issues between the U.S. and Mexico any time soon because of the power of cartels, corruption in the Mexican government, and drug and human trafficking.  Although the documentary follows two vigilante groups, one in Arizona and one in Mexico, and records their discontents, it does not get into what the problems are on either side of the border, especially ours; for instance, our appetite for drugs.  If we didn’t buy them, traffickers would lose their biggest market.  It’s stated very well by some Mexicans brewing up meth; their attitude is, “Well I kind of feel bad about it, but we have to earn a living.”  Nor does it explore the U.S. “war on drugs”, political stalemates about the border and what to do with it, and the influence of policies and politics in both the U.S. and Mexico.  It references indirectly the Southern Poverty Law Center’s classification of the vigilante groups as extremist, but this is not explored to any extent.

           Nevertheless, this is a good documentary that gives the viewer a “You are there” experience that is gripping in showing the bloodshed, torture, and human trafficking rendered by the drug cartels.

           On the Mexican side of the border, it is interesting to learn about the vigilante group Autodefensas in Michoacan formed in 2013.  The citizen militia group was founded and for a time coordinated by a physician, Dr. Jose Mireles, who suggested people take up arms and reclaim their towns from the Knights Templar Cartel, and illustrates their hold over citizens. The last straw that made the organization even more appealing to the people was the cartel’s invading a farm owned by a man who hadn’t paid his dues and brutally attacking his employees, killing 15.  No evidence is given as to whether the government even tried to find and prosecute the perpetrators.  Mireles observes that when the government can’t protect its citizens they must defend themselves, their families, and their property. 

           Mireles’ leadership did not last long; in early 2014, he was regarded as a hero after the group had reclaimed 28 towns in Michoacan; but he was seriously injured in a plane crash (whether from sabotage is unclear) and was away in Mexico City being treated for about a month.  When he returned, he had lost influence in the group, and there is some evidence that the Mexican government ineffectively intervened.  As a consequence of his not wanting to give up his arms, Mireles was branded a criminal.

           The spokesman for the vigilante group on this side of the border, Tim “Nailer” Foley, uses reasoning similar to that of Mireles, saying that his group is “upholding the law where there is no law.” The Arizona Border Recon was started when he found that cartels were controlling human trafficking as well as drugs.  Foley owns the vigilante designation, but says it has gotten a bad name; it used to refer to citizens simply protecting their rights and property.  “Our main priority is going after the bad guys”, he says.  Although he is aware that they are sometimes picking up innocent people and that they have no hope of stopping the cartel leaders from transporting drugs, he is committed to keeping the border free of illegal entry.

           Because of the many complicating factors, it is difficult to assess the viability of the citizen groups taking on the cartels.  Both of these groups claim that they are protecting themselves, and when they capture someone, they turn them over to the authorities (although Mireles claims that the Mexican government simply releases them, along with their arms.)  This documentary leads the viewer to think that Mexican President Nieto likely did cave in to cartel pressure in forcing the independent group to give up their arms then outfitting them with new ones under a new leadership.  Many Mexicans think Mireles was unfairly undermined.  From the documentary, we’re given the impression that the citizen group was actually successful in reclaiming towns, and Mireles—rather than using his power for himself—was urging each town to establish a town council for governance.  As far as this side of the border, Tim of the Arizona Border Recon, does take a dim view of the U.S. government’s role in keeping the border free of illegal entry.   It’s hard to determine how objective he is, since he’s had personal experience that would make him likely to resent other people wanting to come to this country.

Good coverage of a complicated issue.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland