Warfare

Written and directed by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland, the film stages a single encounter of 19 November 2006 in Ramadi close to real time. Mendoza was the platoon member calling in air support, and the script came from the testimony of the others as much as from his own. Around the time he announced he was stepping back from directing, Garland described his role here as a supporting one to Mendoza. There is no composed score. 2 songs are heard, one of them the Eric Prydz track that opens the picture, and the sound design carries the rest. It was shot in England, at a studio on the old Bovingdon airfield. The film is dedicated to Elliott Miller, the platoon member who lost his leg and his ability to speak in the incident; Cosmo Jarvis plays him. It went to the British Independent Film Awards with 7 nominations and won 4 of them: editing, effects, sound and ensemble performance. Its BAFTA nomination, for sound, went to F1 on the night. A good fit if you want the hours inside one house rather than strategy or heroism. Not for viewers who cannot take what the BBFC describes as gory wound detail, severed body parts and prolonged scenes of injured men screaming in pain.