How Seeing “Civil War” Made Me a Tragic Optimist
It sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s key to facing reality with optimism
This story isn’t a movie review
It’s more like a debrief. Because seeing Civil War, the 2024 film written and directed by Alex Garland, is an experience so intense that it requires some metabolizing.
After the film, I went to the ladies’ room, where I encountered other women who’d just come from the same screening. We all looked shaken. Oh my God, we said to each other. That could so happen.
As my husband and I left the cinema, we passed a group of other patrons huddled in a somber circle, talking in hushed voices about the film. I was tempted to intrude: Please, can we talk about this? Days later, I’m still processing.
I want everyone in America to see Civil War. Everyone over the age of 15, anyway. Not because it’s action-packed (it is), or stunningly photographed (it is), or superbly directed and acted (ditto). But because it’s probably the most important movie of the last five years.
The movie is described as a “dystopian war film” but that hardly conveys its power. We learn right away that there is a US President who has claimed a third term. He publicly insists his forces are about to…
