WARFARE Review - An unflinching glimpse of true to life modern-day warfare

“Only the dead have seen the end of war.” - George Santayana

War films, like everything these days, are a bit of a conundrum. On one hand they can be quite cinematic, historically significant and maybe even act as a spotlight for the individuals who have endured, survived and went above and beyond for the call of duty and for the man standing next to them. On the other end of it, they can come off as propaganda for the most susceptible among us as an almost glorification of war. But I’m of the opinion that if a film, based on true war stories is well made, wholly unflinching in its depictions of what it really means to be in battle can act as its own kind of anti-war messaging.

The most cynical, and often most illiterate and willfully ignorant among us, have turned from a shared mentality that soldiers are to be honored and taken care of by society and the government, to being seen as nothing but tools for a power structure built on corruption and therefore they shouldn’t respected or celebrated any longer. While the powers that be are without question corrupt, the men and women who serve should never be grouped in with such morally bankrupt, soulless so-called “elected officials.”

Warfare is an apolitical recollection of a Navy SEAL platoon surviving a harrowing mission gone wrong within the borders of Ramadi, Iraq. It addresses the endurance of brotherhood in life threatening chaos and how training and trust in your fellow soldiers is your best chance of survival. This is their story derived entirely from their memories. However unreliable memory may be, it’s accurate enough to recreate the traumas and heroism of a brave few young men who answered the call they saw as worthy of them and their very lives.

While its overall attention is on several SEALs hiding in the middle of a bustling, hostile environment, Ray Mendoza, writer/director and former SEAL created this hellish recall for his friend and fellow SEAL Elliott who early on in the mission is rendered unconscious and unaware of the events that transpired. Through their collective memories this one unfiltered demonstration of what was supposed to happen and what actually happened is some of the most raw, unflinching, graphically driven cinematic drama I’ve ever witnessed. Through its simplicity of plot, in place of complexities and twists you would discover in a fictional storyline, you instead are given an immersive, haunting experience of what innocence turned trained combatant looks like and the jarring contrast between who they are as young men and who they are as highly elite warriors.

The opening of the film is fun, lighthearted and meant to make you smile. It’s also an opportunity to show that these "mindless" servicemen are anything but dead from the neck up. They are essentially kids, asked to grow up in ways no one has any right to ask of another human being and yet they do so willingly and often grateful to serve their country. Warfare is a ninety-minute recreation of what FUBAR really means to those that have lived it. The opening is loud but hopeful as if some kind of reprieve granted by fate itself for these men who are about to face the worst day of their lives. It’s an oasis of beauty before being doused in misfortune, blood, bullets and brain matter.

To bring this all back to life is a remarkable collection of young and upcoming actors who are all in their own phases of becoming household names in the industry. Will Poulter (Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, The Bear) stars alongside Cosmo Jarvis (Shōgun, Calm with Horses), Joseph Quinn (A Quiet Place: Day One, Stranger Things), Michael Gandolfini (The Many Saints of Newark, Beau is Afraid) and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Reservation Dogs). Together they recreate the heroism and traumas endured by the soldiers they have convincingly embodied, wounds and all.

Warfare has its entertainment value certainly but that isn’t the point. It wants you to take from it whatever you may but simply asks that you watch it with an unbiased eye and understand that for these men, this was intended with a higher calling in mind and they went in head first with a willingness we can only hope the bravest among us can reproduce when we need them most. Alex Garland is more guiding hand for the technical aspects of the film but this is most certainly orchestrated by Ray Mendoza who felt it was his responsibility to tell his story and that of the men he honorably served with as well as to honor those men and women still heeding that ultimate call.

Call it propaganda all you want and I’ll call you an asshole. After seeing this film I took with me a better understanding of what our soldiers go through when sent overseas. Whether they should be there or not is decided by amoral government officials who are a different kind of enemy all their own not addressed in this particular narrative. Leave that garbage at the door and get the smallest taste of what they go through when the enemy closes in. And when you leave, don’t you dare leave a crumb of gratitude behind. They’ve earned that much at the very least.