Civil War tells of the indifference of images that risk losing their value, therefore Garland narrates the American civil war by following the team of journalists who must report the facts, immortalize the moments through photographs where the very essence of journalism falters since we are talking about Americans killing each other, therefore the journalist-photographer Lee Smith has doubts, traumas, she began her career photographing war scenes outside the States precisely so that it would not happen in her home country, almost as a warning, but now having to report the American civil war she is no longer able to be so detached also because the dead, the atrocities are images that also haunt her dreamily.
Garland does an excellent job with the out of focus and in removing depth of field in certain situations. The beginning with the president giving the speech through the directorial choices recalls a feeling of nightmare, the story is not narrated nor does it take part in the two opposing factions but during the course of the film there is information to understand everything and the political choices meant that Garland carries out.
The Western alliance that opposes the secessionists is made up of California and Texas, two opposing states but united to fight neo-fascism, the president is in his third term, anti-constitutional, has the FBI is therefore dissolved even if the film does not focus on the issues of the civil war, on the two factions, from context.
On the directorial choices, through the out of focus Garland always manages to stay within his characters, despite the enormity of what happens, the beautiful long shots, the director does not lose sight of the characters and what Lee Smith feels.
The very young Jessie, on the other hand, who has Lee Smith as her idol, wants to follow in the latter's footsteps therefore interesting aspects are established between the two.
Jessie at the beginning is hesitant in the face of the atrocities but little by little she seems to be a Lee Smith novel where Garland's direction promptly shows her movements in wanting to go into the war to photograph the events despite the enormous risks, while Lee Smith, on the contrary, with more and more doubts and traumas because she is not detached from what is happening, will have more hesitations because her feelings emerge during the civil war.
Directed by Garland immortalizes death through the camera lens, Jessie practically becomes a sort of angel of death, her camera is her scythe, Garland therefore poses a very interesting discussion on the meaning of the images.
These without a story, without humanity what do they express? Lee Smith's scenes of war and violence did not serve as a warning to the United States as they are now in the midst of a civil war, so indifference becomes a key aspect of the film.
Both of Lee Smith's parents and Jessie they are on farms, in two different states Missouri and Colorado, therefore also politically different, to try to escape from the current dramatic situation. The moment in which the crew that is heading to Washington DC to reach the president stops in a country that seems to live normally as if nothing had happened is emblematic and significant, hence the search for escape but also the indifference towards to what happens.
The slow motion on the sprinkler is beautiful, at the beginning of the film it is shown how the lack of water is a problem, therefore that slow motion gives depth to a common object of first instance, but a garden sprinkler that spraying water during a civil war therefore takes on a completely different meaning, a country that does not look at reality that tries to remain indifferent, it is no coincidence that Garland also frames and places slow motion on the American flag.
Lately we have been talking about which directors whether visionaries or not, Garland is becoming more and more of a visionary, not only for the wonderful long shots he creates, but also for his slow shots, used here a lot but there were also in Men, they are becoming more and more poetic and powerful .
The sequence while the crew glimpses the fire, the fires, is beautiful and evocative.
The character of Sammy, the oldest journalist of the crew, is the guardian of the memories of an America now gone, it is also what makes Lee Smith point out that even in the country that is about to live as if nothing had happened, there are armed people on the roofs to highlight how it is impossible to really escape from what is happening.
Joel is perhaps the least successful character , an action journalist who seems to enjoy and enjoy being in the midst of war, due to what happens in the film he too will show humanity but overall he seemed to me to be a less strong and characterized character than the others.
There are some passages that could have been handled better, that of Joel's friends above all, I understand the meaning of that part, of showing racism, but the how, the devices used are a bit weak, not the scenes themselves because Garland shoots well and in fact the staging of the film is excellent, but Joel's colleagues appear a bit out of nowhere, they don't have this depth and are only a function for what will happen.
In the part of Washington Garland is good at showing the action but never lose focus on its characters, the contrasts between Jessie and Lee Smith are always central, until reaching the climax, with slow shots where the telephoto lens immortalizes what happened.
The being, the coldness which contrasts with feelings and empathy, Garland's civil war is also this, the indifference that one risks feeling in front of images, the failure to raise awareness of what is happening.
Hence the contrasts between the beautiful long shots, the removal of depth of field, the choices of what to focus on take on both their stylistic and narrative meaning and once again Garland manages to reflect the image and therefore the characters, the moment in which Lee Smith looks at himself in the mirror while rehearsing the dress is therefore significant, they are its two souls.