A Private War

A film set in war zones and based on a real life. Marie Colvin works as a war correspondent for a British paper. Her method is settled: she goes to the front, stays among civilians and writes from there. In 2001 she loses her left eye in an attack in Sri Lanka. After that she wears a black patch and goes on working. The film covers her last ten years: the digging of a mass grave in Iraq, Afghanistan, an interview with a leader in Libya and finally Homs in Syria. Between these is her life in London. She cannot sleep, she drinks, her relationships do not work and she cannot tell anyone what she has seen. For a period she is treated in hospital. What the narrative is interested in is not heroism but the price of continuing to do this work: she cannot stop going and cannot fully explain why herself. Paul Conroy, the photographer who works with her, is the second main character; the relationship between them sets the balance of the film. The last section covers the siege of Homs and shows it directly. The source is a magazine piece written by Marie Brenner. Rosamund Pike plays Colvin, Jamie Dornan plays Conroy and Tom Hollander her editor. Matthew Heineman directed; he comes from documentary and this is his first fiction film. An effective production for anyone who likes narratives about journalism and war drama. Before you watch, know this: the film shows footage of war and civilian casualties directly.