REVIEW: A Private War

Directed by Matthew Heineman
2018 Biographical War Drama
1 hour 50 minutes
From Aviron Pictures

Starring
Rosamund Pike
Jamie Dornan
Tom Hollander
Nikki Amuka-Bird
Stanley Tucci

I have been touched by Marie Colvin's story from the time I saw her final broadcast six years ago (on Anderson Cooper's show) from Homs, Syria, shortly before she was killed.  

She was a spirited, fearless war correspondent, perhaps the most celebrated of her time, and the telling of her story in this day and age of attacking journalists is especially poignant and meaningful.

New York-born Colvin worked for London's Sunday Times.  At first she was the paper's Middle East correspondent and then its Foreign Affairs correspondent.  She became quite recognizable after a 2001 blast from the Sri Lankan army that cost her her left eye.  She usually was seen and photographed thereafter with a black patch over her eye.

Colvin had lengthy assignments in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and finally Syria.  She was most passionate about her job and her assignments, saying that she was addicted to being in war zones.  Her intent was to give a voice to the voiceless and to make suffering a part of the record.   She said she thought she had a talent to make people stop and care.  I see it so you don't have to, she said.  Her boss told her that everyone loved her but she was a pain in the ass.  She suffered nightmares, believed she had PTSD and was an alcoholic. 

The film alternates between her various assignments and her civilian life which includes her relationship with her newspaper and love affairs.  It also showcases her friendship with her photographer, Paul Conroy (Dornan), who managed to survive the bombing that killed Colvin.

At the time of her death, Conroy, her bosses and those nearby pleaded with her to leave the area but she was concerned with 28,000 people who had been abandoned and were in harm's way.  It is a terribly touching final 15 minutes.  The entire film shows a deeply human side of war.

The supporting cast is on its toes but this film from start to finish belongs to Rosamund Pike and she is exquisite as the tough but tender-hearted Colvin.  Good as she has been recently in Gone Girl, A United Kingdom and Hostiles, she hit the cinematic jackpot here. 

Director Heineman is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and this is his first feature-length film.  He has a good sense of time and place and kept the story moving along in a spirited manner.

It is based on a 2012 Vanity Fair article, Marie Colvin's Private War, by Marie Brenner.  

Filmed largely in Jordan, the war sequences couldn't be more realistic and heart-breaking.  It is perhaps not a film for everyone but if you suspect it's something you might like, you're right.  



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