WARFARE can be seen as a counterpart to Alex Garland’s previous film CIVIL WAR. Where CIVIL WAR showed an epic journey across the US during a fictional civil war, WARFARE is a highly focused story based on the personal memories of a military special unit during the second invasion of Iraq, and especially those of co-director Ray Mendoza. In November 2006, Mendoza's team entered a residential building in embattled Ramadi to monitor the neighborhood from a sniper's nest. After an initial period of waiting and routine, the soldiers were suddenly attacked, and the team was ambushed while evacuating the position. The survivors were able to retreat to the relative safety of the building and prepare for the next attack.

Considering who the co-director is, WARFARE is probably accurate when it comes to the radio transmissions, the military strategies, and the reaction to seeing a comrade blown to pieces.. The film does away with all the fictional or narrative additions. The soldiers are a well-coordinated unit, but there’s no backstory or developing dynamics among each other, let only time for any dramatic speeches. Only at the very end does a silent sequence seem like a sarcastic commentary on the way the US has conducted this conflict. But then, thanks are immediately given to the real role models.


All in all, WARFARE is a heavily armed chamber play in and outside a building that offers suspense with intense images and sound design, even if you don't have much use for the patriotic military cheering.

Christian Klose (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy