For consecutive weekends, Alex Garland’s Civil War has captivated audiences, from its harrowing opening to its gut punch of a final shot. Many have come out of the movie wanting to discuss the film’s themes, or maybe even headed back to the theater with a friend in tow, so they could enter the fight from the front lines as seen through the POV of Garland’s main characters. This helped Civil War win the box office two weekends in a row… and set box-office records for A24 as a studio. But there’s one scene in particular that lives rent free in my head, even though – when I brought it up for Garland and his cast – they had different interpretations for it.
The scene involves war-time photojournalists Lee (Kirsten Dunst), Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), and Joel (Wagner Moura) as they detour into a small AMerican town that is actively choosing to ignore the conflict that has engulfed our major cities. The townsfolk know that there is a Civil War happening. They’re just choosing to bury their heads in the sand, to keep living the life they led before the conflict. It’s unnerving.
I wanted to know if filming the scenes set in the town provided a respite for the actors from the bombastic nature of the war scenes, but Cailee Spaeny explained why that wasn’t actually the case, telling CinemaBlend:
That makes sense that you would make that connection, but I actually never felt like we had a rest day. And even if maybe we weren't in the heavy combat action moments, it still felt like there was always so much tension going on. And we were really trying to get it right every day. It was so hard to keep that balance the whole time.
And as her co-star, Kirsten Dunst, added:
And there's a major price that those people are paying to have that, so-called normalcy of living in that town.
Alex Garland’s Civil War does make frequent stops as the corps of journalists travels from New York City to Washington, D.C. to check in and see how the war is affecting different corners of our nation. It can lead to a tense confrontation with a militaristic stranger (played by Jesse Plemons). And it can lead to a shootout in the Nation’s Capitol, in front of some of our country’s most recognizable monuments. That’s what makes the ending of Civil War so unforgettable.
But the director did see how the sequence in the town provided a brief relief from his grueling schedule, as he shared with CinemaBlend:
That's an interesting question. In a way, yes, because you're not dealing with tanks and helicopters and hardware and stuff like that. But it was an oddly disturbing scene to shoot, as well. There was something kind of creepy underneath it.
It’s undeniable that the scene set in the “normal” town was very abnormal. But what haunts me is how Lee and Jessie allowed themselves to drift out of their mental and physical Hell for even a moment, trying on new clothes and remembering how life used to be, and never would be again. Human, dramatic scenes like that in Civil War are winning over non-war fans, and making it one of the best movies you can see on screen all year.
