Opinion: “Warfare: is a technical masterpiece of war films

“War is hell, but that’s not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead,” said Tim O’Brien from “The Things They Carried.”

It is often questioned how much historical accuracy matters. Whether it be in a book, movie, TV show, comic book or even video games. But when it comes to something like war, it’s such a strange beast. So much happens that couldn’t make it into movies because it would be considered too insane, too unbelievable. Reality is often a stranger thing than fiction. 

That’s where “Warfare” comes in. This film is the result of a collaboration between Alex Garland and Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza, who is fictionalized in this movie and played by D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai. Unlike many war films, much of the film is taken directly from Mendoza’s recollection of an event that happened in 2006 during the Battle of Ramadi. Much of what is depicted in the film is very close to how it happened in real life. On the one hand, it’s very impressive how authentic this film feels and how accurately it captures everything that happened. On the other hand, it’s very bare bones in its depiction. 

The first comparison to be made will be “Dunkirk.” It’s not a movie about some amazing story about the horrors of war, but what it is is a very authentic retelling of what war feels like. Sure, it’s a horrible experience where people get killed, maimed and even psychologically scarred for the rest of their lives, but it’s also where you forge close friendships. Soldiers border on brotherhood with people who are the only ones that will understand what you saw when you head to war. 

The characters aren’t particularly memorable, but what propels this film is the pacing and drama that comes from an intense situation. Mendoza and Garland expertly put the audience into the soldiers’ shoes as they go through this situation. You feel their fear and panic as they quickly realize they’re fighting an enemy who will go much further than they will. Also, once some of their boys get wounded, the stress and intensity end up worsening and the film expertly gets you to feel what the soldiers are feeling throughout the film. The action sequences are also well helmed, with some of the best sound design committed to film in the past several years. 

But once again, one is left wondering how much historical accuracy matters. “Warfare” takes the concept of historical accuracy to its most logical conclusion here, capturing every detail of what happened during this event to the letter. But was it needed? There were several scenes of the men sitting around and hanging out before the battle. From all accounts, how the events of the story happened in the movie was how it happened. But fiction is often a meticulously constructed illusion of reality and maybe it should stay that way.