''A Private War'' is a 2018 American

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed by

Matthew Heineman Matthew Heineman is an American filmmaker. The Sundance Film Festival called Heineman "one of the most talented and exciting documentary filmmakers working today", while Anne Thompson of ''Indiewire'' wrote that Heineman is a "respected and gif ...

, and starring

Rosamund Pike Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike (born 1979) is a British actress. She began her acting career by appearing in stage productions such as ''Romeo and Juliet'' and ''Gas Light''. After her screen debut in the television film ''A Rather English Marriage'' ...

as journalist

Marie Colvin Marie Catherine Colvin (January 12, 1956 – February 22, 2012) was an American journalist who worked as a foreign affairs correspondent for the British newspaper '' The Sunday Times'' from 1985 until her death. She died while covering the siege ...

. The film is based on the 2012 article "Marie Colvin’s Private War" in '' Vanity Fair'' by

Marie Brenner Marie Harriet Brenner (born December 15, 1949) is an American author, investigative journalist and writer-at-large for ''Vanity Fair''. She has also written for ''New York'', ''The New Yorker'' and the ''Boston Herald'' and has taught at Columbia ...

. The film was written by Arash Amel and features

Jamie Dornan James Peter Maxwell Dornan (; born 1 May 1982) is an actor, model and musician from Northern Ireland. Formerly a character actor, he often portrays solemn, steady characters. The recipient of two Irish Film and Television Awards, he has been n ...

Tom Hollander Thomas Anthony Hollander (; born 25 August 1967) is an English actor. As a child Hollander trained with the National Youth Theatre and was later involved in stage productions as a member of the Footlights and was president of the Marlowe Soci ...

and

Stanley Tucci Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. Involved in acting from a young age, he made his film debut in John Huston's '' Prizzi's Honor'' (1985), and continued to play a variety of supporting roles in fil ...

. The film premiered at the

2018 Toronto International Film Festival The 43rd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 6 to 16, 2018. In June 2018, the TIFF organizers announced a program to ensure that at least 20 percent of all film critics and journalists given press accreditation to ...

and was released in the United States on November 2, 2018. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised Pike's performance. At the

76th Golden Globe Awards The 76th ceremony of the Golden Globe Awards honored the best in film and American television of 2018, as chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Produced by Dick Clark Productions and the HFPA, the ceremony was broadcast live on Jan ...

, the film earned nominations for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama (Pike) and

Best Original Song This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

("Requiem for A Private War"), while director Matthew Heineman received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First Time Feature Film Director from the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

Plot

is an American journalist for ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', visiting the most dangerous countries and documenting their civil wars. In 2001, while trekking with the

Tamil Tigers The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

, Colvin and her crew are ambushed by the Sri Lankan Army. Despite her attempt to surrender, an RPG fires in her direction, wounding her to the point that she loses her left eye. Afterward, Colvin decides to wear an

eyepatch An eyepatch is a small patch that is worn in front of one eye. It may be a cloth patch attached around the head by an elastic band or by a string, an adhesive bandage, or a plastic device which is clipped to a pair of glasses. It is often worn ...

. Diagnosed with

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...

, Colvin is still determined to look for new stories, and argues with her boss, Sean Ryan, about conflicts she wants to cover, including Iraq, where she meets war photographer Paul Conroy, and Libya. She lives in London when not traveling the world, and begins a relationship with Tony Shaw (Stanley Tucci). In February 2012, Conroy and Colvin decide to cover the conflict in the city of

Homs Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...

, where they find 28,000 Syrian men, women, and children caught in the crossfire. After Conroy and Colvin send their story to Ryan, Colvin decides to broadcast to CNN to bring awareness to civilian casualties. As Marie, Paul, and another reporter,

Rémi Ochlik Rémi Ochlik (16 October 1983 – 22 February 2012) was a French photojournalist who was known for his photographs of war and conflict in Haiti and the Arab Spring revolutions. Ochlik died in the February 2012 bombardment of Homs during the ...

, flee the building they had used as a media centre, the street is peppered with explosions. Paul, injured and shellshocked, wakes to find Colvin and Ochlik killed from the explosions and subsequent pile-up of rubble. The movie ends with imagery of the devastated city of Homs, followed by an interview of the real Marie Colvin, with the quote: "You're never going to get to where you're going if you acknowledge fear."

Cast

as Paul Conroy *

as Sean Ryan,

' foreign editor and Marie's boss *

Nikki Amuka-Bird Nikki Amuka-Bird (born 27 February 1976) is a Nigerian-born British actress of the stage, television, and film. Early life Amuka-Bird was born in Delta State, Nigeria, where her father still lives. She left there as a young child with her mo ...

as Rita Williams, Marie's friend *

Faye Marsay Faye Elaine Marsay (born 30 December 1986) is an English actress. Her notable roles include Anne Neville in '' The White Queen'' (2013), the recurring character Candice in '' Fresh Meat'' (2013), Steph in the film ''Pride'' (2014), Amy in ''Need ...

as Kate Richardson *

Greg Wise Matthew Gregory Wise, born 1966, is an English actor and producer. He has appeared in several British television programmes and feature films. He played the role of John Willoughby in ''Sense and Sensibility'', which also starred Emma Thompson, ...

as Professor David Irens * Corey Johnson as Norm Coburn, another photographer *

as Tony Shaw *

Fady Elsayed Fady Elsayed (born 15 September 1993) is a British-Egyptian actor, best known for his role as Ram Singh in the BBC's '' Doctor Who'' spin-off '' Class''. Early life Elsayed was born in 15 September 1993 at St Mary's Hospital in London, Elsayed ...

as Mourad

Production

The film was produced in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and was shot by Robert Richardson. It features an original song by

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the New wave music, new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician D ...

, entitled "Requiem for A Private War".

Release

In February 2018,

Aviron Pictures Aviron Pictures was an American film production and distribution company founded by William Sadleir, founder of Clarius Entertainment (which, as the company went inactive shortly after his departure, Aviron can be considered a successor of) and ...

acquired distribution rights to the film. The film had its world premiere at the

on September 7, 2018, and had its European premiere at the Mayor's Gala in the

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...

. It also screened at the

Mill Valley Film Festival The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual American film festival founded in 1977. History In October 1977, Mark Fishkin, Rita Cahill and Lois Cole organized a three-day film festival. It featured three film tributes, Francis Ford Coppola's ''T ...

Hamptons International Film Festival The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is an international film festival founded in 1992, by Joyce Robinson. The festival has since taken place every year in East Hampton, New York. It is usually an annual five-day event in mid-October a ...

, and the

Woodstock Film Festival The Woodstock Film Festival is an American film festival that was launched in 2000 by filmmakers Meira Blaustein and Laurent Rejto with the goal to bring high quality independent film to the Hudson Valley region. The festival takes place each fa ...

. The film was released on November 2, 2018, in

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

, before expanding nationwide on November 16, 2018. ''A Private War'' was released in the UK and Ireland on 15 February 2019.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, it has an approval rating of , based on reviews, and the average score is . The website's critical consensus reads: "''A Private War'' honors its real-life subject with a sober appraisal of the sacrifices required of journalists on the front lines—and career-best work by Rosamund Pike." On review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Peter Debruge of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called it "an incredibly sophisticated, psychologically immersive" film.

Accolades

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Private War, A 2018 films American biographical films American biographical drama films Films shot in London Films shot in Jordan Films produced by Charlize Theron Films based on newspaper and magazine articles Films about journalists 2018 biographical drama films Films set in Sri Lanka (1948–present) 2018 drama films Films produced by Basil Iwanyk Films set in Syria 2010s English-language films 2010s American films