War Story

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.

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 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.

We watched this movie because it was rated a 7.1 at the time that I looked it up. What a mistake that was. This movie starts out slow with little explanation as to what is going on or the events that led up to it. It gets progressively slower and more pointless and confusing. How long can the camera follow someone down the street filming the back of their head in silence without boring the viewer to tears. The resent trend of directors filming characters staring off into space with blank expressions for excessive lengths of time is taken to a new level in War Story. I did not expect this one to be lighthearted but I did not expect to be suicidal by the end of it either. As much from the pointless cinematography, that had no bearing on the story, as from my desperate desire for it to be over. War Story is the worst movie I have seen in the last 15 years.

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.