- Title: Film 'Warfare' offers sensory experience of Iraq War mission
- Date: 1st April 2025
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (APRIL 1, 2025) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, MICHAEL GANDOLFINI, SAYING: "It's sort of, you know, I think really pumped in humanity. I think when you watch the film, it's about human beings and it's about consequences of human beings doing these things to other humans. And so you walk out,
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: A24 film Alex Garland Cosmo Jarvis D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai Kit Connor Ray Mendoza Warfare Warfare London premiere Warfare film Warfare premiere Will Poulter
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: UK
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA005332601042025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: New A24 movie "Warfare" places audiences among a platoon of U.S. Navy SEALs as they battle insurgents during the Iraq War.
Written and directed by combat veteran Ray Mendoza and filmmaker Alex Garland, the movie is a real time re-enactment of a 2006 surveillance operation gone awry that is based entirely on the memories of the soldiers who took part in it, including Mendoza himself.
Following Garland's 2024 film "Civil War", on which Mendoza worked as a military supervisor, the movie features an ensemble cast of top up-and-coming talent including Charles Melton, Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor and D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai.
It pays tribute to head sniper and medic Elliott Miller, played by Jarvis, who was wounded and whose recollections of the events are sparse.
"I wanted to make it for Elliott," Mendoza said at the film's London premiere on Tuesday (April 1). "He does not recall what happened. Over the years he's asked a lot of questions. I've been in this industry for 15 years now, and it's just kind of a goal, a journey for me to acquire all the tools and the skills I needed along the way to make that."
As a rule, the filmmakers decided "not to invent or heighten anything" and tell Mendoza's and his team's memories as accurately as possible.
"I think what films usually do is they find a way to dramatise, and that sometimes means romanticise combat and conflict and to be inaccurate, sometimes in subtle ways or in profound ways. And we just tried to strip all of that out and just present war in this instance, as it was. That was our sole intention," Garland said.
The U.S.-led the invasion of Iraq, that toppled strongman leader Saddam Hussein, started in 2003. U.S. troops were officially withdrawn in 2011.
"Warfare" sees the group of young men taking up surveillance positions in a residential building in the dark of night. It depicts their close bond and the boredom as they wait, and the chaos that ensues when they come under fire from al Qaeda insurgents and try to evacuate wounded soldiers.
For the cast, portraying the soldiers, many of who were involved in the production, and recreating the events in Ramadi, Iraq in 2006, came with responsibility.
"We had to try and do the story, what happened, justice and try to do these characters justice," said "Heartstopper" star Connor, who plays gunner Tommy.
The movie was shot outside London over five weeks in early 2024. In preparation for its long extended takes and carefully choreographed scenes, the cast took part in an intensive three-week boot camp.
"That included weapons handling, strategy and tactics, some of the kind of language that is unique to SEALs and the military. We learned radio communications, first aid, some navigational stuff, and then went out on a few exercises as a team and kind of put it into practice," said "The Bear" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" actor Poulter, who plays an officer in charge of the operation.
During the bootcamp, the cast also gave each other nicknames and shaved each others' heads.
"It was like a men's retreat in a way, like in the best way. We were very competitive with each other, but at the same time, super supportive, loving, respectful. Yeah, and day one, we buzzed each other's heads. Like, just got all in the bathroom with a bunch of shears and just started shaving each other's heads," said actor Evan Holtzman, who plays Brock.
Although immersing audiences in warfare, the movie is rooted in humanity, said actor Michael Gandolfini, who plays Lieutenant Macdonald.
"It's about human beings and it's about consequences of human beings doing these things to other humans. And so you walk out, I believe, feeling immense pain but immense humanity in the film," he said.
"Warfare" begins its global theatrical rollout on April 10.
(Production: Gerhard Mey, Hanna Rantala) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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