Several weeks on since its premiere at SXSW and Alex Garland’s non-partisan approach to American politics in his upcoming “Civil War” film remains one of the most talked about topics of it prior to release.
The story unfolds in the United States in the not-so-distant future, when nineteen states have seceded from the union and are now made up of factions.
The narrative centers on a team of photojournalists following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach D.C. before rebel factions descend upon the White House
The film reportedly avoids any direct red state vs. blue state style comparisons, trying to serve as objective and politically neutral about the dangers of polarization.
To some that approach is frustrating, but Garland himself tells EW that the opaque approach to politics here is by design as he does not want to impose his political views on the movie or audience:
“The viewer is required to make their own interpretation. The film is actually being opaque. It’s forcing the viewer to ask questions. Now, I know there are some people out there who don’t like that, who want films to answer every question. They don’t like being confused about the intentions of the people making the film. They want to be reassured.
But as I see it, film is a broad church. There’s lots of different people making lots of different sorts of films. I want to make them like this. I put my own opinion into things, but I don’t put them front and center because I don’t want to shut down a conversation.
The point of a conversation is that you’re not shouting, ‘This is what I think, and this is what you should think too!’ Then it’s something completely different. And to be honest, there’s enough people doing that shouting, and they’re welcome to it. They’ve got Twitter or X or whatever the hell it’s called, where they can knock themselves out all day and all night.”
Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Nick Offerman star in the film which was made at a budget of around $50 million and is tracking to a $20+ million opening weekend – a potential record breaker for distributor A24.
“Civil War” opens in cinemas and on IMAX on April 12th. Check out a new featurette about it below: