Review of A Private War (2018) by Hector V — 25 Nov 2018

The worst film of 2018 so far. This was bad on so many levels - horrible acting, terrible writing and direction, appalling attitudes about meaningful journalism, even the sound was atrocious, bludgeoning the audience nonstop even when somebody is just crumpling paper.

Where to start? How about hollow and content-free shotgun scenes of Marie Colvin around the world being brave and adventurous, with not a whit of substance regarding what she is (and by extension, we are) witnessing. Worse than that, even. How could she cover the war in Iraq, and argue with a younger, greener journalist that the only narratives worth telling are the "human" stories that readers can relate to? No my dear, you have that exactly wrong. In fact, it *is* significant that American journalists said "we" when describing US military actions, as that young woman tried to tell you, and you dismissed. The human stories worth covering were the humans who launched a war for their own private profit.

Is Marie Colvin so absurdly over the top in real life, or is Rosamund Pike just a lousy actress? No hint of subtlety appears ever, but plenty of empty shots of her staring into the middle distance, emoting. Such emoting! Maybe it was because she was given nothing significant to say. When she described journalism as the rough draft of history, my cliche-meter detonated. And don't show an award ceremony twenty minutes in, where she's honored for doing nothing worthwhile that we've witnessed, except lose an eye while covering a conflict we learn nothing about.

The supporting players were equally bereft of originality - the partner who doesn't understand what drives her away from him, the editor who harries her, etc.

I left this movie halfway through, maybe the third or fourth time I've ever done that (it was right after the paper crumpling). Maybe there's a story arc that I missed, where she learns the true spirit of Christmas, but I doubt it. If you suffer through this dreck, tell me if I missed anything rewarding.

Go see "The Year of Living Dangerously" instead. Yes, I know it stars Mel fucking Gibson. See it anyway.