AUSTIN, Texas (AP) 鈥� Alex Garland鈥檚 election-year provocation, debuted Thursday at the SXSW Film and TV Festival, unveiling a violent vision of a near-future America at war with itself.
鈥淐ivil War,鈥� reportedly A24鈥檚 biggest budget release yet, is a bold gamble to capitalize on some of the anxieties that have grown in highly partisan times and ahead of a potentially momentous .
The film, written and directed by the British filmmaker Garland (鈥淓x Machina,鈥� 鈥淎nnihilation鈥�), imagines a U.S. in all-out warfare, with California and Texas joining to form the 鈥淲estern Forces.鈥� That insurrection, along with the 鈥淔lorida Alliance,鈥� is seeking to topple a government led by a three-term president, played by Nick Offerman.
In drawing battle lines across states blue and red, 鈥淐ivil War鈥� sidesteps much of the politics that might be expected in such a movie. And the story, too, largely omits surrounding context for the conflict, focusing on the day-to-day adventures of a group of journalists played by Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura and Stephen McKinley Henderson, who are attempting to document the fighting.
鈥淭he film is intended as a conversation. It is not asserting things 鈥� I mean I guess it鈥檚 asserting some things,鈥� Garland told the crowd after the screening. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 a conversation, and that means it鈥檚 not a lecture.鈥�
鈥淎 lot of the times,鈥� he added, 鈥淚 was thinking about what can I avoid, what can I miss out and make it a sort of two-way exchange.鈥�
The movie year has showed signs of turning combustible as the nation girds for an election where some believe democracy is at stake. At , host Jimmy Kimmel largely avoided talking politics before reading a critical social media post from former President Donald Trump.
鈥淚sn鈥檛 it past your jail time?鈥� prodded Kimmel.
There are more films on the way with potential to add talking points. 鈥淭he Apprentice,鈥� in which Sebastian Stan plays Trump, was shot in the fall, though no release date has yet been announced. But nothing has had quite the anticipation of 鈥淐ivil War." Some even debated .
Yet 鈥淐ivil War,鈥� which will open in U.S. theaters on April 12, isn鈥檛 as incendiary as some hoped, or feared. There are some chilling moments, including one where a gun-wielding militant played by Jesse Plemons asks the journalists, 鈥淲hat kind of American are you?鈥� But much of the film鈥檚 visceral power comes through its scenes of the U.S. as a battleground populated by refugee camps and mass graves.
The idea for the film came to Garland almost exactly four years ago, he said.
鈥淚 wrote it back then and sent it to A24 and they just said, 鈥榊up, we鈥檒l make it,鈥� which was surprising,鈥� said Garland, who shot the film in Georgia. 鈥淭his is a brave film to finance, it really is.鈥�
鈥淚 had never read a script like this," said Dunst, who plays a veteran combat photographer.
In the film, Dunst鈥檚 character, Lee, heads to Washington, D.C., to capture potentially the final, blood-letting moments of the war. The group is joined by a young, aspiring photographer, played by Spaeny. Though 鈥淐ivil War鈥� culminates with the White House under siege, it鈥檚 in many ways a film about journalism.
鈥淭his is a sort of love letter to journalism and how it important it is,鈥� said Garland, who said his father was a newspaper cartoonist. 鈥淣ewspaper people 鈥� I wanted to make them heroes.鈥�
Initial reaction out of SXSW for 鈥淐ivil War鈥� spanned both masterpiece and mess. Some were unsure of how to immediately respond, including Spaeny, who moments after seeing it for the first time said, 鈥淚 need a second.鈥�
Garland, for his part, demurred from making any grand political statement.
鈥淚 just want to say: I always try to make sort of funny movies. I thought 鈥楨x Machina鈥� was funny,鈥� Garland said. 鈥淚f people laughed, I'm glad, partly because some of it is so (expletive) stupid. It should be funny. It's crazy. It's messed up.鈥�
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
