There's a fascinating contrast in The War Zone between the drab, down-at-heel existence of a post-modern British "nuclear family" and the huge force of the wrong that is being done beneath the surface. Life in the lonely farmhouse on a Devon clifftop is so shabby and downbeat it resembles a documentary. Nothing much happens, people drift about, mumbling at each other --- until something brutally does: a horrifying car-crash that triggers the action. It's impossible to examine and celebrate the action without spoiling the film (although it's bad enough that its subject is blazoned over most comments even though they do not announce spoilers; strictly speaking they should be removed and all the commentators blocked). Suffice to say that the theme is eternal and earth-shattering, wielding the power of an Oedipus Rex, the ancient Greek drama. The opening calm by the end has become a scene of utter ruination, with lives blown to pieces. In between, the phlegmatic English characters, ex-Londoners to boot, worn down by urban alienation, gradually come to grips with the primal situation they are in. It unleashes moments of awesome dramatic power that raise this picture to the level of Sophocles and Aeschylus. Hats off to Tim Roth for creating this tour de force, which packs more power into a few underpaid and under-financed minutes than any fat Hollywood blockbuster. It's an incredibly provocative examination of the core of human society that will set you and your fellow viewers thinking and talking into the night. Don't miss this rough gem!
Review of The War Zone
